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Zap, North Dakota

5 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1969. It stands in Zap City. It lies in ZIP code area 58580. The Survey maps it on the Zap quadrangle. 221 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,847 feet above sea level.

Zap within Mercer County

Population over time

2 figures

Zap fell from 237 to 221 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
2010237
2020221-16 (-7%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

3 surveys from 5 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

7 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 7 fires within 5 miles of Zap between 2005 and 2020, burning about 224 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 use4
Railroad operations and maintenance2
Smoking1

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
8 August 2019Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresNorth Dakota State Forest ServiceN OF MM140 HWY 200
18 July 2018Smoking1.0 acresNorth Dakota State Forest ServiceHWY 200 WEST OF COUNTY RD 17
17 July 2017Equipment and vehicle use60 acresNorth Dakota State Forest ServiceWEIGUM/COTEAU FIRE
2 May 2020Railroad operations and maintenance60 acresNorth Dakota State Forest ServiceRAILROAD
14 April 2015Equipment and vehicle use100 acresNorth Dakota State Forest ServiceREICH
28 March 2019Railroad operations and maintenance1.0 acresNorth Dakota State Forest ServiceWEST OF PISCHEL
17 November 2005Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresNorth Dakota State Forest Servicenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Mercer County

Storms near this place

31 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Zap in 31 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 18 hail, 10 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado, 1 heavy rain. 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 2014HailZap$60,000Strong winds accompanied the large hail. Follow up reports included damage to structures, vehicles, and crops.
June 2012HailZap$12,000Large hail resulted in minor car and home damage.
August 2008Thunderstorm WindZap$3,000The severe thunderstorm wind gusts snapped three inch in diameter tree limbs.
August 2025Tornado (EFU)Zap-The tornado touched down in an open field south of Zap and impacted no structures. There was no damage to evaluate. By National Weather Service policy the tornado is rated EF-U (Unknown).
June 2022Thunderstorm WindZap-Thunderstorm winds combined with pea sized hail to severely damage a corn field.
July 2014Thunderstorm WindZap-Large hail accompanied the strong winds.
July 2011Thunderstorm WindZap-Heavy rain accompanied the strong winds.
July 2011Heavy RainZap-A heavy rainfall report of 1.8 inches in one half hour was received.
September 2010Thunderstorm WindZap-Heavy rain accompanied the strong thunderstorm winds.
August 2006HailZap-Storm accompanied by estimated 55 mph wind gusts near Zap.
August 2006HailZap-Also had 50 mph wind gusts. Leaves were stripped from trees.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindZap-no account filed
July 2025Thunderstorm WindZap-no account filed
August 2017HailZap-no account filed
June 2015Thunderstorm WindZap-no account filed
August 2013HailZap-no account filed
August 2013HailZap-no account filed
July 2011HailZap-no account filed
July 2011HailZap-no account filed
August 2011HailZap-no account filed
July 2010HailZap-no account filed
July 2008HailZap-no account filed
June 2008HailZap-no account filed
August 2006Thunderstorm WindZap-no account filed
July 2005HailZap-no account filed
June 2001HailZap-no account filed
June 2001Thunderstorm WindZap-no account filed
July 1999HailZap-no account filed
July 1999HailZap-no account filed
August 1999Tornado (F0)Zap-no account filed
July 1997HailZap-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Mercer 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
Golden Valley7.5 miles7
Beulah7.8 miles6
Truax15.4 miles6
Hazen15.9 miles5
Stanton28.8 miles8
Pick City29.3 miles7
Knife River Village (historical)29.3 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 ZapAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q927478The 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 1032903. 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.