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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.

Alta Vista within Chickasaw County

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

Population over time

2 figures

Alta 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.

YearPeople Change
2010266
2020227-39 (-15%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 7 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

7 since 2006

Regional 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/undetermined6
Debris and open burning1

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
4 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
5 April 2006Missing data/not specified/undetermined15 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
17 April 2009Missing data/not specified/undetermined10 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
23 March 2010Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural ResourcesFAYETTE & 100TH ST., IOWA
9 October 2010Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resources912 110TH ST., IOWA
1 October 2012Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
5 January 2012Debris and open burning5.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Chickasaw County

Mines and quarries near this place

5 within 5 miles

Regional 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
KaneStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
KobliskaStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Odonnell QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
UnknownStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer

Every working recorded in Chickasaw County

Storms near this place

21 since 1993

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
April 2026HailAlta Vista$55,000Local fire and rescue in Alta Vista reported golf ball sized hail.
May 1996Thunderstorm WindAlta Vista$50,000no account filed
July 1994Thunderstorm WindAlta Vista$50,000no account filed
August 1993HailAlta Vista$50,000no account filed
May 1998Thunderstorm WindAlta Vista$35,000no account filed
June 1998Flash FloodAlta Vista$12,000no account filed
June 1998Thunderstorm WindAlta Vista$8,900no account filed
July 1994HailAlta Vista$5,000no account filed
July 1994Thunderstorm WindAlta Vista$5,000no account filed
July 2017Thunderstorm WindAlta Vista$3,000An estimated 70 mph wind gust occurred in Alta Vista that blew down numerous trees.
May 2017Thunderstorm WindAlta Vista$2,000Trees were blown down in Alta Vista.
June 2014Thunderstorm WindAlta Vista$2,000Trees were blown down in Alta Vista.
July 2003HailAlta Vista$2,000no account filed
July 1994Tornado (F0)Alta Vista$50no account filed
May 2017Thunderstorm WindAlta Vista-An estimated 60 mph wind gust occurred in Alta Vista.
June 2022HailAlta Vista-no account filed
July 2003HailAlta Vista-no account filed
July 2003HailAlta Vista-no account filed
May 2002HailAlta Vista-no account filed
July 2000Thunderstorm WindAlta Vista-no account filed
March 1998HailAlta Vista-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Chickasaw 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
Deerfield4.8 miles7
North Washington5.6 miles7
Devon6.3 miles7
Jerico8.5 miles7
Bethany Hall9.5 miles7
Bassett10.7 miles7
New Hampton11.0 miles7
Nansen11.2 miles7

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 VistaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1914581The 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.