Porcupine, Wisconsin
13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1935 and the latest in 1990. It stands in Frankfort town. It lies in ZIP code area 54721. It lies near Patten Coulee. The Survey maps it on the Ella quadrangle. It stands 778 feet above sea level.
Topographic sheets covering this place
10 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.
- 1935 USGS Arkansaw quadrangle1:48000
- 1941 USGS Arkansaw quadrangle1:62500
- 1942 USGS Arkansaw quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1953 USGS Saint Paul quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1953 USGS St. Paul quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Saint Paul quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS St. Paul quadrangle1:250000
- 1972 USGS Ella quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Hastings quadrangle1:100000
- 1990 USGS Hastings quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
4 since 2018Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 4 fires within 5 miles of Porcupine between 2018 and 2020, burning under an acre 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 burning | 2 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 May 2019 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | 27 |
| 21 April 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | 20 |
| 20 April 2019 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | 26 |
| 12 November 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | 56 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 12 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 12 workings within 5 miles of Porcupine: 8 occurrences, 4 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arkansaw Sand Pit #1 | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Arkansaw Sand Pit #2 | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Arkansaw Shaly Limestone Deposit | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Occurrence | ||
| Big Coulee Limestone Deposit | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Occurrence | ||
| Emery Anderson Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| J. Dettling Limestone Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Maple Ridge Limestone Deposit #1 | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Occurrence | ||
| Maple Ridge Limestone Deposit #2 | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Occurrence | ||
| Maple Ridge Sandstone Deposit | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Occurrence | ||
| Porcupine Creek Dolomite Deposit | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
5 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Porcupine in 5 storm reports between 1996 and 2023: 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado, 1 funnel cloud. 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Porcupine | $4,500,000 | no account filed |
| July 2016 | Tornado (EF1) | Porcupine | $500,000 | A tornado was embedded within a broader mesocyclone that was sometimes three miles wide (see separate entry for the wind damage from the mesocyclone). The tornado itself moved east, hitting two farmsteads where barns and sheds were destroyed. The tornado also produced a narrow corridor of uprooted and snapped trees. It dissipated just as it was exiting Pepin County. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Porcupine | $200,000 | A mesocyclone that was sometimes three miles wide caused widespread wind damage, knocking down trees, destroying sheds and causing other building damage. The downburst wind damage from the mesocyclone was mostly spread across a 1.5 mile wide area, but occasionally reached a width of three miles. There was also a tornado embedded within the mesocyclone (see separate entry for the tornado). |
| July 2023 | Funnel Cloud | Porcupine | - | A funnel cloud was reported near Porcupine in Pepin County. |
| July 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Porcupine | - | There was a measured wind gust of 60 mph east of Porcupine from a private weather sensor. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ella | 4.1 miles | 13 | |
| Arkansaw | 4.9 miles | 13 | |
| Devils Corner | 5.5 miles | 13 | |
| Hawkins Corner | 5.9 miles | 13 | |
| Barry Corner | 6.4 miles | 13 | |
| Durand | 7.5 miles | 12 | |
| Laneville | 7.8 miles | 13 | |
| Pepin | 10.2 miles | 15 |
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 Porcupine | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q7230015 | 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 1571783. 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.









