Lignite, North Dakota
7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1949 and the latest in 1982. It stands in Lignite City. It lies in ZIP code area 58752. The Survey maps it on the Portal quadrangle. 141 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,982 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresLignite fell from 155 to 141 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 | 155 | |
| 2020 | 141 | -14 (-9%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 7 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.
- 1949 USGS Portal quadrangle1:24000
- 1950 USGS Portal quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1953 USGS Williston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Williston quadrangle1:250000
- 1982 USGS Kenmare quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
3 since 2016Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 3 fires within 5 miles of Lignite between 2016 and 2020, burning about 11 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 |
|---|---|
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 September 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | North Dakota State Forest Service | GANS |
| 7 July 2016 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 1.0 acres | North Dakota State Forest Service | 2016014 |
| 10 June 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 10 acres | North Dakota State Forest Service | 2017010 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
3 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Lignite: 2 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Roos Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| John Roos Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Knutson Pit & Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
20 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Lignite in 20 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 13 hail, 5 lightning, 2 thunderstorm wind. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lignite | $500,000 | Intense straight line thunderstorm winds resulted in a workover oil rig to blow over, causing substantial damage to the rig. |
| August 2006 | Lightning | Lignite | $250,000 | Lightning struck two salt water tanks at oil wells. One oil well 2 miles southeast of Lignite was struck at 715 AM CST, while another 2 miles northwest of Lignite was struck at 830 AM CST. Both strikes started fires, with fire crews unable to get close to the fires due to the intense heat. Loss in production was estimated at 15K per day. The 250K damage was to property. |
| June 1997 | Lightning | Lignite | $75,000 | Lightning struck a holding tank containing salt water. The resulting fire spread to other tanks before the fire could be brought under control. 4 tanks containing oil, 2 tanks containing salt water, and 2 empty tanks were lost. Damage amount estimated. |
| June 2002 | Lightning | Lignite | $30,000 | Lighntning struck the steeple of the Tonset Lutheran Church catching it on fire. The church was built in 1916. |
| July 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lignite | $25,000 | A shop had its doors blown out, and a cable snapped on one side of a bi-fold garage door. |
| August 2006 | Hail | Lignite | - | Very heavy rain also reported. |
| June 2003 | Hail | Lignite | - | Heavy rain and strong winds accompanied the storm. |
| July 2001 | Lightning | Lignite | - | Lightning ignited a 300 barrel tank containing 200 barrels of oil. This caused two other barrel tanks to ignite causing severe damage to the treater. The site was completely destroyed. |
| July 1998 | Lightning | Lignite | - | Lightning ignited a 400 gallon oil storage tank. |
| August 2025 | Hail | Lignite | - | no account filed |
| August 2024 | Hail | Lignite | - | no account filed |
| August 2016 | Hail | Lignite | - | no account filed |
| August 2016 | Hail | Lignite | - | no account filed |
| July 2015 | Hail | Lignite | - | no account filed |
| July 2013 | Hail | Lignite | - | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Hail | Lignite | - | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Hail | Lignite | - | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Hail | Lignite | - | no account filed |
| July 2009 | Hail | Lignite | - | no account filed |
| July 1999 | Hail | Lignite | - | 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.
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 Lignite | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2447055 | 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 1029886. 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.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
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.




