BlockBefore
Decorative drawing: a small American settlement seen from a low hill. Not a photograph of this place.

North Otis, Massachusetts

37 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1888 and the latest in 1997. It stands in Otis town. It lies in ZIP code area 01253. It stands on Cone Brook. The Survey maps it on the Otis quadrangle.

North Otis within Berkshire County

Then and now

1888 to 1997

The same ground, surveyed 109 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of North Otis, surveyed 1997
Topographic sheet of North Otis, surveyed 1888

Topographic sheets covering this place

37 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 nearby

12 since 2015

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 12 fires within 5 miles of North Otis between 2015 and 2020, burning about 8 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
Recreation and ceremony3
Missing data/not specified/undetermined1
Smoking1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

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 2015Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
4 September 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
13 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
29 August 2017Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
29 July 2017Recreation and ceremony2.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
17 May 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
6 April 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 April 2019Smoking1.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Berkshire County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 1,998 shown

Museums hold 1,998 specimens collected within 10 miles of North Otis between 1834 and 1975: 1,228 Animalia, 625 Plantae, 143 Fungi, 1 Protozoa, 1 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. E. Treat, A. K. Harrison, A. M. Vail and others. Each is a physical object with a catalogue number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be concluded from a species being absent.

Image SpeciesYear Collected by Where, as recorded
A photograph of the species Parnassia caroliniana, not of this specimenParnassia caroliniana Michx.1834not recorded
A photograph of the species Lygodium palmatum, not of this specimenLygodium palmatum (Bernh.) Sw.1872Miller, E.S.East Hampton
A photograph of the species Eleusine indica, not of this specimenEleusine indica (L.) Gaertn.1874Frederick N. Pease
A photograph of the species Gentianella quinquefolia, not of this specimenGentianella quinquefolia subsp. quinquefolia1875not recorded
A photograph of the species Leucobryum glaucum, not of this specimenLeucobryum glaucum (Hedw.) Ångstr.1877H. J. BiddlecomeChester
A photograph of the species Botrychium angustisegmentum, not of this specimenBotrychium angustisegmentum (Pease & A.H.Moore) Fernald1879not recorded
A photograph of the species Botrychium dissectum, not of this specimenBotrychium dissectum Spreng.1879not recorded
A photograph of the species Euphorbia polygonifolia, not of this specimenEuphorbia polygonifolia L.1879not recorded
A photograph of the species Chordeiles minor, not of this specimenChordeiles minor minor (J.R.Forster, 1771)1883Collector(s): H. C. Johnsonnear New Marlboro
A photograph of the species Acer saccharum, not of this specimenAcer saccharum Marshall1897Vail, A.M.Tyringham
A photograph of the species Acer spicatum, not of this specimenAcer spicatum Lam.1897Vail, A.M.Vicinity of Tyringham
A photograph of the species Acorus calamus, not of this specimenAcorus calamus L.1897Vail, A.M.vicnity of Tyringham

All 1,998 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

2 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of North Otis: 1 past producer, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Granite. 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
Berkshire QuarryGraniteProducer
Williams Stone CoGranitePast ProducerGranite

Every working recorded in Berkshire County

Storms nearby

9 since 2008

The National Weather Service names North Otis in 9 storm reports between 2008 and 2021: 4 thunderstorm wind, 3 flash flood, 1 hail, 1 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
July 2021Thunderstorm WindNorth Otis-Several trees were downed near Otis.
July 2021Flash FloodNorth Otis-Law enforcement reported Werden Road flooded near an egg farm.
July 2021Flash FloodNorth Otis-West Center Road was flooded with some rocks and debris left behind.
July 2021Flash FloodNorth Otis-West Center Road was flooded with some rocks and debris left behind.
September 2016Thunderstorm WindNorth Otis-A tree was down on wires near North Otis due to thunderstorm winds. The tree caught on fire as a result of the downed wires.
July 2014Thunderstorm WindNorth Otis-A large tree and wires were downed on Becket Road in Becket due to thunderstorm winds.
June 2011Thunderstorm WindNorth Otis-Trees were reported down in North Otis due to strong thunderstorm winds.
March 2010FloodNorth Otis-Route 8 was reported closed due to ice chunks in the road left over from an ice jam that broke on the West Branch of the Farmington River. The road was reopened after the ice chunks were cleared.
June 2008HailNorth Otis-Quarter size hail was reported in North Otis during a thunderstorm.

Every storm recorded in Berkshire 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
West Becket2.7 miles38
Otis2.8 miles37
Indian Lake Estates3.2 miles37
Otis Wood Lanes3.2 miles37
Bonny Rigg Corners3.8 miles37
West Otis3.9 miles38
Camp Chimney Corners4.0 miles37
Algerie Four Corners4.3 miles37

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.

Wikidata item Q122570000The 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 608076. 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.

Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.

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.