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Tower City, North Dakota

10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1897 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Tower City City. It lies in ZIP code area 58071. The Survey maps it on the Tower City quadrangle. 268 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,171 feet above sea level.

Tower City within Cass County

Population over time

2 figures

Tower City grew from 253 to 268 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
2010253
2020268+15 (+6%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 10 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

11 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 11 fires within 5 miles of Tower City between 2015 and 2020, burning about 25 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 burning6
Missing data/not specified/undetermined3
Smoking1
Equipment and vehicle use1

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
19 September 2020Debris and open burning1.0 acresNorth Dakota State Forest Service10000134
10 August 2019Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresNorth Dakota State Forest Service10000112
14 July 2017Debris and open burning2.0 acresNorth Dakota State Forest Service1000102
3 June 2019Debris and open burningunder an acreNorth Dakota State Forest ServiceTOWER CITY BALE FIRE
3 June 2019Debris and open burning1.0 acresNorth Dakota State Forest Service1000110
26 May 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNorth Dakota State Forest Service2018-35
17 April 2015Smoking12 acresNorth Dakota State Forest ServiceMAPLE RIVER BOTTOM FIRE
7 December 2020Debris and open burning2.0 acresNorth Dakota State Forest Service1000139

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Cass County

Storms near this place

29 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Tower City in 29 storm reports between 1998 and 2022: 16 hail, 8 thunderstorm wind, 4 tornado, 1 funnel cloud. 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
July 2007Thunderstorm WindTower City$2,500,000A six mile stretch of high voltage power towers was crumpled by a combination of downburst winds and at least one tornado through Central Hill Township. At least 28 steel four pole towers, operated by Western Area Power Administration, were destroyed. One tower in adjacent Barnes County was also destroyed. Extensive crop damage occurred across Hill and Howes Townships.
July 2007Tornado (EF2)Tower City$2,500,000The tornado plowed through wooden power poles and viciously ripped up mature trees over its damage path. The tornado also damaged a sturdy pole shed, where the sidewall was caved in and the roof and rafters were torn off. It tore the roof off and collapsed an older barn, then lifted and threw a well-built two car garage from its slab foundation. The tornado crumpled one steel, four footing, high voltage power tower. In combination with extreme downburst winds, the collapse of this first tower helped initiate the collapse of dozens more of these power towers. Peak winds were estimated at 130 mph.
July 2007Thunderstorm WindTower City$1,000,000Widespread nickel to golfball sized hail and downburst winds affected much of Cornell and Tower City Townships.
July 2007Tornado (EF1)Tower City$1,000,000The tornado touched down on the northeast side of Tower City in Cass County and tracked to the south-southwest. In Tower City, the tornado ripped off a section from the roof of a house and tossed garden storage buildings and equipment. The tornado also blew a single car garage off its foundation and destroyed it. Several trees in town were damaged or blown down. Peak winds were estimated at 110 mph.
June 2003Thunderstorm WindTower City$600,000Seven 80 foot tall 345 KV high voltage power transmission towers were blown down.
July 2004Tornado (F2)Tower City$500,000The tornado knocked down high voltage power lines and three metal towers north of Tower City. Several farm buildings were also damaged northeast of Tower City.
June 2003Thunderstorm WindTower City$100,000Numerous large trees were snapped off at the base. Power went out in town causing some residents to have sewer backup. Cass County Electric Cooperative reported 40 power poles downed between Tower City and Gardner with 1300 customers without power.
June 2008Tornado (EF0)Tower City$10,000This tornado originated in Barnes County and continued with intermittent touchdowns into Cass County for about one more mile. It lifted about 2 miles north-northeast of Tower City. Peak winds were estimated at 80 mph.
July 2002Thunderstorm WindTower City$10,000Grain bins were damaged and trees were blown down in Tower City. Three of the city's 8 streets were blocked by trees and power was out for 4 hours. One tree fell on a church, causing substantial damage.
July 2022HailTower City-Received a public report of dime to quarter sized hail.
June 2020Thunderstorm WindTower City-Several trees were blown down in town.
September 2018Thunderstorm WindTower City-Shingles were blown off a roof.
June 2018HailTower City-The wind driven hail stripped fields and gardens.
June 2013HailTower City-Dime to quarter size hail fell.
May 2010Funnel CloudTower City-A rotating wall cloud was viewed by a meteorologist located near Tower City.
July 2004Thunderstorm WindTower City-The wind tore a roof off a house and bent trees to the ground. Many large tree branches were broken off around town.
August 2018HailTower City-no account filed
July 2007HailTower City-no account filed
April 2006HailTower City-no account filed
May 2005HailTower City-no account filed
June 2005HailTower City-no account filed
August 2004HailTower City-no account filed
July 2002HailTower City-no account filed
June 2001HailTower City-no account filed
July 2001HailTower City-no account filed
August 2001HailTower City-no account filed
July 2000HailTower City-no account filed
July 1999HailTower City-no account filed
July 1998HailTower City-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Cass 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
Wheatland Colony1.0 miles10
Buffalo6.6 miles10
Ayr12.7 miles9
Alice12.7 miles10
Magnolia13.0 miles11
Embden15.2 miles11
Absaraka15.3 miles11
Nolan16.1 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 Tower CityAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q48791The 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 1036349. 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.