Forbes, North Dakota
8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1899 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Forbes City. It lies in ZIP code area 58439. The Survey maps it on the Forbes quadrangle. 36 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,562 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresForbes fell from 53 to 36 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 53 | |
| 2020 | 36 | -17 (-32%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 8 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1899 USGS Ellendale quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1954 USGS Aberdeen quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1956 USGS Aberdeen quadrangle1:250000
- 1968 USGS Forbes quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Elm River quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
5 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 5 fires within 5 miles of Forbes between 1992 and 2016, burning about 311 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3 |
| Debris and open burning | 1 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 July 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4.0 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | not named |
| 7 April 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | North Dakota State Forest Service | PAUL OLSON FARM |
| 2 April 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | North Dakota State Forest Service | MINER |
| 15 April 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 acres | North Dakota State Forest Service | TIMOTHY WAGNER CRP |
| 16 March 1992 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Fort Totten Agency | not named |
Storms near this place
37 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Forbes in 37 storm reports between 1993 and 2024: 26 hail, 7 thunderstorm wind, 1 lightning, 1 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2011 | Flood | Forbes | $500,000 | Persistent thunderstorms with heavy rain over a long period of time brought widespread flooding to many county and township roads across Dickey County. |
| August 1993 | Hail | Forbes | $500,000 | The hail occurred with 4.15 inches of rain in 70 minutes. The hail damaged a 30-square mile area in southern Dickey County. |
| June 2022 | Hail | Forbes | $200,000 | Siding and roofs of homes were damaged, and multiple vehicles were dented. |
| August 2016 | Flash Flood | Forbes | $60,000 | Dickey County Highway 2 was flooded in multiple locations between the communities of Forbes and Merricourt. Very heavy rain fell on locations that received up to three inches of rain the previous night. Multiple additional township roads also became flooded throughout Dickey County and some were washed out in places. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Forbes | $50,000 | The public reported thunderstorm wind gusts of 60 mph combined with nickel sized hail. Damage occurred to shingles on roofs and to vehicles. |
| July 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Forbes | $3,000 | Multiple large cottonwood trees blew over or were snapped. |
| July 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Forbes | $3,000 | Two larger diameter trees were blown down. In addition, numerous smaller branches and limbs were also blown down. |
| June 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Forbes | - | A trained spotter reported thunderstorm wind gusts of 60 mph. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Forbes | - | A trained spotter reported thunderstorm wind gusts of 65 mph. |
| June 2014 | Hail | Forbes | - | The large hail resulted in some crop damage. |
| June 2007 | Hail | Forbes | - | No damage was reported. |
| May 2005 | Hail | Forbes | - | Reported by a NWS cooperative observer. |
| August 2005 | Lightning | Forbes | - | Hay bales were started on fire by lightning strikes. |
| May 2024 | Hail | Forbes | - | no account filed |
| July 2022 | Hail | Forbes | - | no account filed |
| June 2022 | Hail | Forbes | - | no account filed |
| July 2020 | Funnel Cloud | Forbes | - | no account filed |
| August 2020 | Hail | Forbes | - | no account filed |
| August 2020 | Hail | Forbes | - | no account filed |
| August 2020 | Hail | Forbes | - | no account filed |
| August 2016 | Hail | Forbes | - | no account filed |
| July 2013 | Hail | Forbes | - | no account filed |
| July 2013 | Hail | Forbes | - | no account filed |
| April 2010 | Hail | Forbes | - | no account filed |
| July 2008 | Hail | Forbes | - | no account filed |
| June 2007 | Hail | Forbes | - | no account filed |
| June 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Forbes | - | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Hail | Forbes | - | no account filed |
| May 2005 | Hail | Forbes | - | no account filed |
| May 2005 | Hail | Forbes | - | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Hail | Forbes | - | no account filed |
| July 2002 | Hail | Forbes | - | no account filed |
| July 2002 | Hail | Forbes | - | no account filed |
| June 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Forbes | - | no account filed |
| August 2002 | Hail | Forbes | - | no account filed |
| September 2001 | Hail | Forbes | - | no account filed |
| June 1997 | Hail | Forbes | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wirch | 12.6 miles | 11 | |
| Ellendale | 14.1 miles | 12 | |
| Duane | 15.5 miles | 12 | |
| Merricourt | 18.4 miles | 11 | |
| Monango | 18.7 miles | 12 | |
| Boynton | 18.9 miles | 12 | |
| Maple River Colony | 20.2 miles | 13 | |
| Keystone (historical) | 20.5 miles | 12 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Forbes | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2153209 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1028998. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.




