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Mercer, North Dakota

6 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1979. It stands in Mercer City. It lies in ZIP code area 58559. The Survey maps it on the Mercer quadrangle. 88 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,929 feet above sea level.

Mercer within McLean County

Population over time

2 figures

Mercer fell from 94 to 88 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.

YearPeople Change
201094
202088-6 (-6%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

4 surveys from 6 printed sheets

Matched 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.

Fires near this place

4 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 4 fires within 5 miles of Mercer between 2005 and 2012, burning about 51 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
Debris and open burning2
Fireworks2

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
4 July 2012Fireworks1.0 acresNorth Dakota State Forest ServiceBRUSH LAKE HIGHWAY 33 FIRE
4 July 2012Fireworks5.0 acresNorth Dakota State Forest ServiceSTUTE FIRE 2
29 April 2005Debris and open burning25 acresNorth Dakota State Forest Servicenot named
16 April 2005Debris and open burning20 acresNorth Dakota State Forest Servicenot named

Every fire recorded in McLean County

Storms near this place

25 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Mercer in 25 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 12 hail, 8 tornado, 5 thunderstorm wind. The reports record 1 death and 4 injuries. 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2018Thunderstorm WindMercer1 killed, 4 hurt, $250,000About 30 camping trailers at Heckers Lake and New Johns Lake were damaged and destroyed, with many overturned. Some of the campers came to rest in the water. One fatality occurred at Heckers Lake as an individual was outside his camper, and the camper blew over onto him. Four injuries were also reported in the camping areas|around New Johns and Heckers Lakes.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindMercer$350,000Extensive wind damage occurred in the Brush Lake and Mercer areas. Multiple metal sheds were blown over and boating docks were damaged. Large trees at Brush Lake were snapped and uprooted. Multiple campers were heavily damaged.
September 2025Tornado (EF1)Mercer$300,000The tornado touched down about a mile west of Mercer near a farmstead which it then passed through. At this farmstead, the tornado caused extensive tree damage to the property with many branches and trees snapped, and a large tree uprooted. The tornado then partially destroyed a pole barn by ripping about one-half of the rafters off, and pulling out several large support beams along its southeast side that were buried about five feet deep. Debris was scattered up to one-quarter mile away, with large pieces of wood embedded in the ground along the debris field. From there, the tornado then crossed Highway 200, damaging trees on the north side of the highway. It then proceeded north and destroyed an unanchored and unoccupied mobile home on wheels being stored about six miles north of Mercer. The tornado then lifted about two miles north of the mobile home damage. Based on the damage done this tornado was rated EF-1, and from that wind speeds were estimated to be around 110 mph.
July 1996Tornado (F1)Mercer$75,000no account filed
July 2010Thunderstorm WindMercer$20,000Trees four to five inches in diameter were blown down.
August 2011Thunderstorm WindMercer$18,000Several trees were snapped or uprooted.
May 1994HailMercer$5,000no account filed
June 2006HailMercer$3,000Broken house windows.
September 2025Tornado (EFU)Mercer-This is the second event entry for one tornado that passed through two counties, Sheridan and McLean. The tornado touched down in an open field southwest of Pickardville and impacted no structures before it ended southeast of Mercer. Shortly after this tornado dissipated, a separate damaging tornado developed west of Mercer. With this tornado, there was no damage to evaluate. By National Weather Service policy the tornado is rated EF-U (Unknown).
June 2009Tornado (EF0)Mercer-A tornado briefly touched down in open country. The tornado impacted no structures and so no damage was done.
June 2003Tornado (F0)Mercer-Tornado touched down in open country and moved east northeast remaining over open country then dissipating 4 miles south southwest of Mercer.
November 2000Tornado (F0)Mercer-Tornado touched down in open country skipping in a west direction across the country side.
August 1997Tornado (F0)Mercer-brief touchdown by a rope tornado in open county.
July 2024HailMercer-no account filed
July 2024HailMercer-no account filed
July 2020HailMercer-no account filed
June 2009HailMercer-no account filed
June 2009HailMercer-no account filed
June 2009HailMercer-no account filed
June 2009HailMercer-no account filed
August 2008Thunderstorm WindMercer-no account filed
May 2006HailMercer-no account filed
July 2003HailMercer-no account filed
July 1996Tornado (F0)Mercer-no account filed
August 1995HailMercer-no account filed

Every storm recorded in McLean County

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 PlaceDistance Sheets
Turtle Lake9.7 miles8
Merida20.6 miles8
Washburn21.8 miles9
Falkirk22.2 miles9
Underwood22.7 miles8
Wilton23.2 miles8
Butte24.1 miles9
Riverdale Junction24.6 miles8

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 MercerAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2262342The 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 1030203. 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.