Alta Vista, Iowa
7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Washington Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50603. The Survey maps it on the Elma quadrangle. 227 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,152 feet above sea level.
On record in Alta Vista
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 1 record
- George Darrow Round Barnlisted 1986
Population over time
2 figuresAlta Vista fell from 266 to 227 between 2010 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 266 | |
| 2020 | 227 | -39 (-15%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 7 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.
- 1954 USGS Mason City quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Mason City quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Mason City quadrangle1:250000
- 1972 USGS Elma quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Charles City quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
7 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 7 fires within 5 miles of Alta Vista between 2006 and 2012, burning about 35 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6 |
| Debris and open burning | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 September 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 5 April 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 17 April 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 23 March 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | FAYETTE & 100TH ST., IOWA |
| 9 October 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | 912 110TH ST., IOWA |
| 1 October 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 5 January 2012 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
5 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Alta Vista: 4 past producers, 1 producer. 1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Kane | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Kobliska | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Odonnell Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Unknown | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
21 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Alta Vista in 21 storm reports between 1993 and 2026: 10 thunderstorm wind, 9 hail, 1 tornado, 1 flash 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2026 | Hail | Alta Vista | $55,000 | Local fire and rescue in Alta Vista reported golf ball sized hail. |
| May 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alta Vista | $50,000 | no account filed |
| July 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alta Vista | $50,000 | no account filed |
| August 1993 | Hail | Alta Vista | $50,000 | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alta Vista | $35,000 | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Flash Flood | Alta Vista | $12,000 | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alta Vista | $8,900 | no account filed |
| July 1994 | Hail | Alta Vista | $5,000 | no account filed |
| July 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alta Vista | $5,000 | no account filed |
| July 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alta Vista | $3,000 | An estimated 70 mph wind gust occurred in Alta Vista that blew down numerous trees. |
| May 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alta Vista | $2,000 | Trees were blown down in Alta Vista. |
| June 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alta Vista | $2,000 | Trees were blown down in Alta Vista. |
| July 2003 | Hail | Alta Vista | $2,000 | no account filed |
| July 1994 | Tornado (F0) | Alta Vista | $50 | no account filed |
| May 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alta Vista | - | An estimated 60 mph wind gust occurred in Alta Vista. |
| June 2022 | Hail | Alta Vista | - | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Hail | Alta Vista | - | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Hail | Alta Vista | - | no account filed |
| May 2002 | Hail | Alta Vista | - | no account filed |
| July 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alta Vista | - | no account filed |
| March 1998 | Hail | Alta Vista | - | no account filed |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deerfield | 4.8 miles | 7 | |
| North Washington | 5.6 miles | 7 | |
| Devon | 6.3 miles | 7 | |
| Jerico | 8.5 miles | 7 | |
| Bethany Hall | 9.5 miles | 7 | |
| Bassett | 10.7 miles | 7 | |
| New Hampton | 11.0 miles | 7 | |
| Nansen | 11.2 miles | 7 |
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 Alta Vista | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1914581 | 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 454153. 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.




