BlockBefore

West Fargo, North Dakota

24 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1895 and the latest in 1989. It stands in West Fargo City. It lies in ZIP code area 58078. The Survey maps it on the West Fargo South quadrangle. 38,626 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 896 feet above sea level.

West Fargo within Cass County

Population over time

2 figures

West Fargo grew from 25,830 to 38,626 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
201025,830
202038,626+12,796 (+50%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 24 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

22 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 22 fires within 5 miles of West Fargo between 2005 and 2020, burning about 41 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 burning11
Missing data/not specified/undetermined7
Equipment and vehicle use2
Smoking2

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
28 September 2019Smokingunder an acreNorth Dakota State Forest ServiceGRASS FIRE
8 August 2005Equipment and vehicle use10 acresNorth Dakota State Forest Servicenot named
9 July 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresNorth Dakota State Forest Service38 ST S DITCH FIRE
9 July 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresNorth Dakota State Forest Service64TH AVE. N. & 25TH ST. N. FARGO
7 July 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreNorth Dakota State Forest ServiceFARM FEILD CONTROLLED BURN
30 July 2019Debris and open burningunder an acreNorth Dakota State Forest ServiceGRASS FIRE
3 June 2019Debris and open burningunder an acreNorth Dakota State Forest ServiceGRASS FIRE
4 May 2017Debris and open burning2.0 acresNorth Dakota State Forest Service2017310

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Cass County

Storms near this place

31 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names West Fargo in 31 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 14 thunderstorm wind, 6 flash flood, 5 hail, 3 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2000Flash FloodWest Fargo$5,000,000After 5 to 7 inches of rain fell across the West Fargo area, flash flooding occurred in low lying neighborhoods. The Meadow Ridge area suffered quite a bit of damage, with numerous basements flooded. Many streets and cars were also flooded.
July 1999Thunderstorm WindWest Fargo$5,000,000Strong winds hit the West Fargo area, knocking down trees, power lines, and signs. A motel on Main Avenue was damaged as well as numerous roofs. A block of storage sheds were blown apart, with debris damaging vehicles and apartments in the area. 4300 people were without power. At the West Fargo airport, a hanger was demolished, wrecking the Cessna 182 parked inside. A skydiver group who owned the hanger lost most of their equipment inside, some blowing over a half mile away. Some contents of the hanger were found inside a home to the east of the airport. This home had its roof torn off and windows blown in. This allowed some of the debris from the airport hanger to get inside the house. A fireworks tent was flattened, with most of the fireworks inside destroyed because of the rain. 55 power poles were knocked down in the West Fargo area, some snapped at ground level. Several motorhomes at the West Fargo Fairgrounds were overturned, with no injuries reported. A set of bleachers and a press box at the old West Fargo High School were also flattened. On Main Avenue, a 100,000 bushel grain bin was wrecked.
July 2010Thunderstorm WindWest Fargo$1,000,000A Squall Line with damaging downburst winds raked across West Fargo and into Fargo through the early morning hours. Winds flipped over two semi trailors parked near the fair grounds and completly tore off a large metal section of city garbage transfer station along U.S. Highway 10. Industrial business roofing damage and the movement of small machinery items in various lots indicated the occurence of one or more small surface eddies in the overall downburst pattern.
April 2023FloodWest Fargo$951,000West Fargo - Sheyenne River - Crest of 21.06 ft occurred on 4/24. A second crest of 18.24 ft occurred on May 10th, which is included in the May storm data.||NOTE: Damages dollar amount is for the entire county. Not separated by specific river basin or damage type.
May 2011Tornado (EF2)West Fargo$750,000This tornado tracked northward and brushed the west edge of the industrial park of northwest Fargo and the east edge of Reiles Acres before lifting east of Harwood. The tornado was likely enshrouded in downburst winds and heavy rains for part of this track. Two guyed radio towers collapsed, several empty semi-trailers and travel trailers were flipped and thrown, steel wall and roofing panels were torn from industrial buildings, and numerous power poles and trees were snapped. peak winds were estimated at 135 mph.
June 1998Flash FloodWest Fargo$250,0003 to 5 inches of rain fell in less than three hours, resulting in rapid flooding problems across West Fargo. Several parking lots and low areas filled with water, covering some cars. Water also covered a few streets and filled several basements with 3 1/2 feet of water. Power went out for most of West Fargo, causing sewer and sump pump failure.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindWest Fargo$50,000The winds were sustained at forty-nine miles per hour with wind gusts up to sixty-four miles per hour.
June 2010Flash FloodWest Fargo$25,000Roads flooded from about four inches of rain in an hour and a half. The busy east-west route of 13th Avenue South was temporarily closed to traffic around the noon hour, making traffic a mess. Several basement flooding was also reported.
August 1994Thunderstorm WindWest Fargo$20,000no account filed
May 2013FloodWest Fargo$15,000Many roads in Fargo were water covered and closed. Sections of 12th Avenue North from the 3900 to 4200 block were closed with two feet of water covering it. Street and basement flooding was also reported in West Fargo. Two to five inches of rain was reported in a short amount of time.
July 1999Thunderstorm WindWest Fargo$15,000A barn roof was blown off and several large trees were downed.
June 1997Thunderstorm WindWest Fargo$5,000A small tree fell on a house.
October 1997Thunderstorm WindWest Fargo$5,000Power lines were blown down.
June 1997Thunderstorm WindWest Fargo$2,000Gusty winds blew down a billboard-sized video screen at the Red River Valley Fair.
June 2025Flash FloodWest Fargo-Multiple stalled out vehicles due to street flooding in Fargo.
May 2023FloodWest Fargo-West Fargo - Sheyenne River - Flood stage was reached on May 10th, and crested at 18.24 ft on May 10th. This was the second crest of the season, with the first crest of 21.06 ft occurring on April 24th.
July 2023HailWest Fargo-Public reports ping-pong ball sized hail, with about 60 cars with damage in a parking lot.
September 2019Thunderstorm WindWest Fargo-Steel roof panels were torn off a shop building.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindWest Fargo-There was a tree down in the north end of West Fargo.
June 2007Thunderstorm WindWest Fargo-Many trees were blown down. One tree fell on a house.
September 2005Funnel CloudWest Fargo-A funnel cloud was sighted off the west end of the Eagle Run subdivision.
August 2005Flash FloodWest Fargo-Around 3 inches of rain fell in less than an hour. A van was nearly covered in water beneath the Center Street underpass. Other vehicles were stranded around town by high water.
July 2004Flash FloodWest Fargo-The heavy rain flooded 13th avenue south in West Fargo. Several cars stalled in the high water.
August 1997Thunderstorm WindWest Fargo-Wind speed was estimated.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindWest Fargo-no account filed
July 2006Thunderstorm WindWest Fargo-no account filed
August 2002HailWest Fargo-no account filed
July 1999HailWest Fargo-no account filed
July 1999HailWest Fargo-no account filed
July 1999HailWest Fargo-no account filed
July 1997Tornado (F0)West Fargo-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
South West Fargo0.1 miles24
Riverside0.8 miles24
Pinkham3.1 miles24
Fife3.5 miles24
Reiles Acres3.8 miles25
Prairie Rose5.2 miles25
Fargo5.9 miles25
Frontier6.3 miles25

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 West FargoAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1001721The 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 1032733. 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.