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Oso, Washington

15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1899 and the latest in 1989. It stands in the Arlington census division. It lies in ZIP code area 98223. It stands on Deer Creek. The Survey maps it on the Oso quadrangle. 172 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 207 feet above sea level.

Oso within Snohomish County

Population over time

3 figures

Oso fell from 246 to 172 between 2000 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
2000246
2010180-66 (-27%)
2020172-8 (-4%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 15 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

20 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 20 fires within 5 miles of Oso between 1993 and 2020, burning about 150 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 ceremony4
Missing data/not specified/undetermined3
Smoking2
Fireworks2
Equipment and vehicle use2
Misuse of fire by a minor1

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
30 September 1993Equipment and vehicle use70 acresWashington State Department of Natural Resources Headquartersnot named
5 August 2018Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersWHEELER
17 August 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersFUCHSL
16 August 2020Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersFRAILEY PIT
14 August 2006Misuse of fire by a minor3.0 acresWashington State Department of Natural Resources Headquartersnot named
8 July 2010Fireworksunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersLOG JAM
4 July 2003Fireworks3.3 acresWashington State Department of Natural Resources Headquartersnot named
17 July 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersNAVY VIEW

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Snohomish County

Mines and quarries near this place

8 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 8 workings within 5 miles of Oso: 5 occurrences, 2 past producers, 1 prospect. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Nickel, Manganese, Pumice, 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
Ernest Miller ProspectChromium, NickelOccurrence
Halterman PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
OsoStoneOccurrence
Oso QuarryPumicePast Producer
Lake RileyManganeseProspect1956
Lake Riley ProspectManganeseOccurrenceRhodochrosite, Rhodonite
Cavanaugh LakeNickelOccurrence
Cavanaugh LakeNickelOccurrence

Every working recorded in Snohomish County

Storms near this place

2 since 2014

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Oso in 2 storm reports between 2014 and 2017: 2 debris flow. The reports record 43 deaths and 12 injuries. 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
March 2014Debris FlowOso43 killed, 12 hurt, $60,000,000On a warm and dry 22nd of March, 2014, a large landslide occurred four miles east of the town of Oso, Washington. The slide debris, traveling at over 60 miles per hour, crossed the entire river valley, covering an area of over a square mile with an approximate deposit thickness of 15 to 75 feet in some areas. The force of the slide flow caused 43 fatalities, 12 injuries, destroyed 37 homes, and wiped out SR 530 for over a mile. In addition, the slide debris completely blocked the North Fork Stillaguamish River for over 24 hours, backing up a pool of water that flooded the valley about 2 miles upstream and reached approximately 20 feet deep, inundating an additional 6 homes. The cause of the slide is not fully known, though precipitation in the previous months to years contributed to the ground failure. A rain gage located 2 miles west of the slide had 19.93 inches of rain in the 40 days leading up to the slide. |As of March 19th the nearest reporting station Arlington, had reported 7.14 inches of rain, which is about 2 inches shy of the record 9.23 for the entire month of March. Three days before the slide, the area received close to an inch of rain in one day. Most all of the fatalities occurred at the permanent homes impacted by the slide.
April 2017Debris FlowOso-A small landslide occurred near the town of Oso, WA and SR530 was closed for precaution (4 mile stretch between Oso Loop Road and C Post Road.

Every storm recorded in Snohomish 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
Halterman2.4 miles15
Rowan4.1 miles15
Cicero4.3 miles16
Hazel6.4 miles15
Trafton7.2 miles17
Arlington Heights8.5 miles17
Tulker8.7 miles15
Jordan10.2 miles17

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 OsoAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1510467The 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 1524091. 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.