Sudden Valley, Washington
13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1918 and the latest in 1975. It stands in the Bellingham census division. It lies in ZIP code area 98229. It stands on Rufus Creek. The Survey maps it on the Lake Whatcom quadrangle. 6,354 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 673 feet above sea level.
Population over time
3 figuresSudden Valley grew from 4,165 to 6,354 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 4,165 | |
| 2010 | 6,441 | +2,276 (+55%) |
| 2020 | 6,354 | -87 (-1%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 13 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1918 USGS Samish Lake quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1952 USGS Lake Whatcom quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1954 USGS Samish Lake quadrangle1:62500
- 1957 USGS Victoria quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1975 USGS Bellingham quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
56 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 56 fires within 5 miles of Sudden Valley between 1992 and 2020, burning about 85 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 7 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 |
|---|---|
| Recreation and ceremony | 12 |
| Debris and open burning | 11 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 7 |
| Fireworks | 4 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 4 |
| Natural | 3 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Other causes | 1 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 1995 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | not named |
| 7 September 2020 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | BLACKBERRY YARD |
| 7 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | MORNING BEACH |
| 7 September 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | not named |
| 23 September 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | not named |
| 22 September 1997 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | not named |
| 16 September 1998 | Smoking | 1.2 acres | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | not named |
| 14 September 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | PAPER |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
9 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Sudden Valley: 6 occurrences, 3 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Silica, Graphite, Bentonite. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lookout Mountain Bentonite Deposit | Bentonite | Occurrence | ||
| Anderson Creek Graphite Deposit | Graphite | Occurrence | ||
| Samish Lake Graphite Deposit | Graphite | Occurrence | ||
| Lake Whatcom Sandstone Occurrence | Silica | Occurrence | ||
| Reed Lake | Silica | Occurrence | ||
| Samish Lake Sandstone Occurrence | Silica | Occurrence | ||
| Unnamed Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunnyside | 1.7 miles | 13 | |
| Agate Bay | 2.3 miles | 16 | |
| Geneva | 3.3 miles | 14 | |
| Larson Mill | 4.3 miles | 17 | |
| Blue Canyon | 4.6 miles | 13 | |
| Silver Beach | 4.7 miles | 17 | |
| Forest Ridge | 5.2 miles | 17 | |
| Lakeway | 5.5 miles | 14 |
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 Sudden Valley | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1508156 | The 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 1514482. 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.




