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Wenatchee, Washington

16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1913 and the latest in 2003. It stands in the Wenatchee census division. It lies in ZIP code area 98801. The Survey maps it on the Wenatchee quadrangle. 35,508 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 780 feet above sea level.

Research this city

Wenatchee within Chelan County

On record in Wenatchee

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 10 records

Population over time

4 figures

Wenatchee grew from 451 to 35,508 between 1900 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
1900451
19104,050+3,599 (+798%)
201031,925
202035,508+3,583 (+11%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 16 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

21 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 21 fires within 5 miles of Wenatchee between 1992 and 2020, burning about 4,111 acres in total. 4 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined6
Natural4
Debris and open burning4
Fireworks3
Recreation and ceremony1
Firearms and explosives use1
Equipment and vehicle use1
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
9 September 2008Missing data/not specified/undetermined54 acresWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersHORSE LAKE ROAD
4 September 2016Smoking20 acresWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersHORSE LAKE
4 September 1998Missing data/not specified/undetermined10 acresOkanogan-Wenatchee National ForestNUMBER TWO CANYON
18 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSpokane DistrictEAST VIEW
1 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undetermined2,610 acresSpokane DistrictCRYSTAL
26 August 2003Fireworks1.5 acresWashington State Department of Natural Resources Headquartersnot named
20 August 2004Equipment and vehicle use50 acresWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersCANYON VIEW
6 July 2014Fireworks180 acresWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersSKYLINE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Chelan County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 58 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 58 workings within 5 miles of Wenatchee: 28 past producers, 17 occurrences, 8 prospects, 2 producers. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Silica, Gold, Silver. 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
(Facility) Wenatchee Aluminum SmelterAluminum, Contained or MetalPlant
Cannon MineSilver, Gold, Copper, Antimony, Lead, ArsenicProducerAcanthite, Boulangerite, Chalcopyrite, Electrum, Galena, Gold, Hessite, Marcasite, Naumannite, Pyrargyrite, Silver, Sphalerite, Stibnite
LovittGold, Silver, Copper, Antimony, Zinc, Arsenic, LeadPast Producer1885, 1894
Squaw SaddleMercuryOccurrenceCinnabar
CannonGold, SilverPast ProducerAcanthite, Chalcopyrite, Electrum, Galena, Gold, Hessite, Naumannite, Pyrargyrite, Sphalerite, Stibnite
Dry GulchPerliteOccurrence
LovittGold, SilverPast ProducerAcanthite, Chalcopyrite, Electrum, Galena, Gold, Hessite, Naumannite, Sphalerite, Stibnite
Rooster CombPerliteOccurrence
Sampson PitStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Shotwell RoadStone, Crushed/BrokenOccurrence

Every working recorded in Chelan County

Storms near this place

21 since 2003

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Wenatchee in 21 storm reports between 2003 and 2024: 10 flash flood, 3 lightning, 3 debris flow, 2 heavy rain. 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
July 2006LightningWenatchee1 hurtno account filed
June 2022Flash FloodWest Wenatchee$80,000Water and mud going into a couple residences. Several streets in area impacted from urban flooding.
August 2019Flash FloodSouth Wenatchee$50,000Heavy rain from a thunderstorm eroded a culvert and hillside above the Squilchuck Mobile Home Park resulting in three mobile homes being buried up to their roof lines with mud and rocks. Residents in 16 other nearby homes were advised to evacuate until the hillside stabilized.
August 2019Flash FloodSouth Wenatchee$50,000Numerous streets in the southern portion of Wenatchee were reported as flooded and residents were advised to avoid travel in the area. Mud and debris flows in the Squilchuck, Pritcher and Halverson Canyons flowed down these canyons and into the city. In addition heavy rain in the city of Wenatchee backed up storm drains and sewers and contributed to the flooding.
September 2013Flash FloodWest Wenatchee$43,430Flash flooding from Number 2 Canyon blocked a portion of Number 2 Canyon Road above milepost 3. Flood waters reached as far as western Wenatchee. Flood waters also damaged homes and property to private residences in the Canyon. Damage costs were estimated.
August 2013Debris FlowWest Wenatchee$30,000Heavy rain across the 2012 Peavine Canyon Burn Scar resulted in a large debris flow down Number One Canyon Road into southwestern portions of Wenatchee. Upwards of eight inches of mud filled yards, basements, and garages of homes along the road. Witnesses described a wall of water, mud, rocks, branches, and tree limbs coming down Number One Canyon Road with the sound of rocks scraping the road. The debris flow reached the intersection of Lars Lane and Number One Canyon Road. There were no injuries.
August 2013Debris FlowWest Wenatchee$30,000Heavy rainfall led to a debris flow across Number Two Canyon Road roughly from mile post three to the end of the pavement around 0000 PST. The slide left half to one foot of mud and debris, including rocks, over the roadway rendering the road impassible. The Number One Canyon Near Wenatchee Rain Gauge (NOOW1) received 0.29 of rainfall over a span of 29 minutes. Runoff incised ditches up to four feet in diameter exposing utilities.
March 2016Debris FlowWest Wenatchee$15,000The Wenatchee World Newspaper reported that a drainage culvert had plugged with debris during heavy rain over the weekend and caused water and debris to spill out from it and flood yards and streets in the Wenatchee Neighborhood on the 1600 block of Wooland Drive, which is off Pershing Street near Springwater Avenue in Wenatchee, WA.
June 2022Flash FloodWest Wenatchee$10,000A mudslide on Number 1 Canyon Road was closed for several hours.
June 2022Flash FloodWest Wenatchee$10,000Mudslide on Maple Street with the road temporarily impassable.
June 2022Flash FloodWest Wenatchee$10,000Number 2 Canyon Rd temporarily flooded just west of Wenatchee.
June 2006LightningWenatchee$5,000no account filed
June 2019Flash FloodWest Wenatchee$2,500Number 2 Canyon Road was cut by mud and debris carried by a Flash Flood . The road was closed for a few hours while road crews removed the debris.
August 2024Thunderstorm WindWest Wenatchee$2,000Chelan PUD reported 795 customers from a downed tree on a powerline.
May 2006LightningWenatchee$2,000no account filed
August 2024Flash FloodWest Wenatchee$500Chelan County dispatch office reported water flowing out of manhole covers and flooding streets, including at the corner of Maple and Northwestern Avenue. Report on Facebook stated water was up to bumpers of vehicles.
June 2022Thunderstorm WindWest Wenatchee$500Observer reported 3 inch trees limbs and power poles were broken via Mping.
June 2013Flash FloodWest Wenatchee-In the city of Wenatchee, Miller, Western, Springwater, and McKittrick roads experienced flooding. Manhole covers were blown off along Miller Street between Millerdale Avenue and Springwater Avenue. Sections of these roads were closed for roughly one hour as one to two feet of water filled some intersections. Mud and water could be seen flowing across State Route 28 at the junction of US2 and US97 via a DOT camera on the northern sections of Wenatchee. The water and mud was estimated to be less then a foot deep. A CoCoRahs report from one mile west southwest of Wenatchee stated the lower level of their outbuilding was flooded however it is unknown if there was any damage.
July 2011Heavy RainWenatchee-Significant rainfall resulted in cherry damage to several orchards from the Wenatchee area, northward toward Pateros. It was reported that up to approximately fifteen percent or more of the cherry orchards were damaged. The Skeena variety of cherries was most damaged as the rainfall resulted in severe cracking of fruit. The ASOS at the Wenatchee Airport reported 0.30 inches of rainfall between 0600PST and 1200PST. Damage estimations were based on a loss of 150 tons of cherries combined with the additional costs of renting roughly a dozen helicopters used to dry the orchards. One helicopter pilot died when the low-flying aircraft clipped a power-line and crashed.
June 2003Heavy RainWenatchee-During the late afternoon of June 9th a thunderstorm dumped up to 1/3 of an inch of rain in a short period of time. Minor urban flooding of storm drains and culverts resulted. Highway 2 between Wenatchee and Cashmere was closed briefly due to water ponding over all four lanes of the road.
June 2009Dust DevilWest Wenatchee-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Chelan 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
Appleyard1.8 miles16
West Wenatchee2.7 miles16
Olds2.9 miles16
Sunnyslope3.7 miles16
Wenatchee Heights4.6 miles15
Malaga6.8 miles13
Monitor7.2 miles14
Cashmere10.9 miles13

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 WenatcheeAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q958596The 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 1527897. 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.