BlockBefore

Lake Ronkonkoma, New York

35 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1902 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Smithtown town. It lies in ZIP code area 11767. The Survey maps it on the Central Islip quadrangle. 18,619 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 72 feet above sea level.

Lake Ronkonkoma within Suffolk County

Then and now

1902 to 1984

The same ground, surveyed 82 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Lake Ronkonkoma, surveyed 1984
Topographic sheet of Lake Ronkonkoma, surveyed 1902

Population over time

2 figures

Lake Ronkonkoma fell from 20,155 to 18,619 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
201020,155
202018,619-1,536 (-8%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

16 surveys from 35 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

1,117 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1,117 fires within 5 miles of Lake Ronkonkoma between 2000 and 2020, burning about 470 acres in total. 107 started naturally. 181 were 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined697
Arson/incendiarism181
Natural107
Smoking51
Debris and open burning27
Misuse of fire by a minor19
Equipment and vehicle use17
Power generation/transmission/distribution11
Recreation and ceremony6
Other causes1

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
9 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New YorkN/A
9 September 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
9 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
9 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
9 September 2002Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
8 September 2010Smokingunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
8 September 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
8 September 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Suffolk County

Mines and quarries near this place

4 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Lake Ronkonkoma: 2 past producers, 1 unknown, 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Kings Park PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Smithtown PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Smithtown PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Split Rock MineSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown

Every working recorded in Suffolk County

Storms near this place

9 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Lake Ronkonkoma in 9 storm reports between 1998 and 2024: 4 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood, 2 lightning, 1 tornado. The reports record 1 injury. 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
October 2010LightningLake Ronkonkoma1 hurtA man was reported to have been struck by lightning while walking to his car.
July 2022Thunderstorm WindLake Ronkonkoma$10,000Tree on house on Smith Road in Lake Ronkonkoma.
July 2022Thunderstorm WindLake Ronkonkoma$7,500Video of tree down on 7-Eleven on corner of Metzner Road and Smithtown Boulevard.
August 2019Thunderstorm WindLake Ronkonkoma$7,000Three inch tree limbs down, and power poles snapped with report via mping.
August 2019Thunderstorm WindLake Ronkonkoma$3,000Large tree limbs ripped off tree near Michael Murphy Park.
August 2018LightningLake Ronkonkoma$2,000Wires down at Portion Road and Patchogue-Holbrook Road.
August 2024Flash FloodLake Ronkonkoma-Water rescue on Frederick Avenue due to flooding.
August 2008Flash FloodLake Ronkonkoma-The intersection of Hawkins Ave., Smith Rd., and Gatelot Ave., also known as Five Corners, in Lake Ronkonkoma was closed due to flooding.
June 1998Tornado (F1)Lake Ronkonkoma-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Suffolk 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
East Hauppauge1.0 miles35
Lake Grove1.5 miles33
Nesconset1.7 miles35
Ronkonkoma1.7 miles33
Lakeland2.0 miles33
Centereach2.3 miles33
Islandia2.9 miles35
Holbrook3.2 miles33

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 Lake RonkonkomaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q3459304The 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 954936. 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.