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Baxter, Iowa

8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Independence Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50028. The Survey maps it on the Baxter quadrangle. 962 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,004 feet above sea level.

Baxter within Jasper County

Population over time

2 figures

Baxter fell from 1,101 to 962 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
20101,101
2020962-139 (-13%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 8 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

4 since 2010

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 4 fires within 5 miles of Baxter between 2010 and 2019, burning about 15 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 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/undetermined2
Debris and open burning1
Arson/incendiarism1

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
15 August 2010Missing data/not specified/undetermined10 acresIowa Department of Natural Resources5535 300TH ST., PALO ALTO CO. SW 1/4 OF SECTION 15
3 April 2019Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
31 March 2015Debris and open burning2.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
26 March 2014Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Jasper County

Storms near this place

42 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Baxter in 42 storm reports between 1997 and 2024: 23 hail, 13 thunderstorm wind, 3 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2018FloodBaxter$100,000Flooding continued across portions of Jasper County near the Baxter area and at the Colfax fairgrounds.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindBaxter$35,000HAM operators reported the roof taken off of a house and garage.
June 2005Thunderstorm WindBaxter$25,000no account filed
August 2009Thunderstorm WindBaxter$15,000Two 18 inch diameter trees and one 30 inch diameter tree was blown down. Rainfall of 1.25 inches in an hour.
July 2011Thunderstorm WindBaxter$15,000no account filed
June 2011HailBaxter$15,000no account filed
June 2011HailBaxter$10,000Largest stone measured 2.25 inches in diameter.
September 2005Thunderstorm WindBaxter$10,000no account filed
May 2004Tornado (F0)Baxter$5,000Intermitttent track across open country.
June 2007Thunderstorm WindBaxter$5,000no account filed
June 2005Thunderstorm WindBaxter$5,000no account filed
August 2004Thunderstorm WindBaxter$5,000no account filed
June 2001HailBaxter$5,000no account filed
July 2000HailBaxter$5,000no account filed
September 2013HailBaxter$3,000no account filed
June 2011HailBaxter$3,000no account filed
June 1998Thunderstorm WindBaxter$3,000no account filed
June 2011HailBaxter$2,000no account filed
July 2004HailBaxter$2,000no account filed
August 2004Thunderstorm WindBaxter$2,000no account filed
July 2004HailBaxter$2,000no account filed
June 2001HailBaxter$2,000no account filed
July 2008Thunderstorm WindBaxter$1,000Report from a KCCI schoolnet site.
March 2011HailBaxter$1,000no account filed
March 2007HailBaxter$1,000no account filed
June 2005HailBaxter$1,000no account filed
June 2005HailBaxter$1,000no account filed
May 2024Flash FloodBaxter-Considerable flash flooding in Baxter. Water flooding roads and buildings.
April 2023HailBaxter-Reported on social media.
May 2023HailBaxter-Golf ball sized hail and strong winds.
May 2023HailBaxter-Delayed report, submitted via social media.
September 2022HailBaxter-Report of corn stripped due to hail. Delayed report. Time estimated via radar.
July 2020HailBaxter-The Baxter Fire Department reported quarter sized hail.
July 2014Tornado (EF0)Baxter-Southeast moving tornado made a wide turn toward the southwest by end of the track. Stayed in rural agricultural fields.
May 2008Funnel CloudBaxter-A funnel cloud was reported 1 mile north of Baxter.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindBaxter-Report received from a Schoolnet site.
April 2023HailBaxter-no account filed
August 2009Thunderstorm WindBaxter-no account filed
March 2006HailBaxter-no account filed
August 2004HailBaxter-no account filed
July 2000HailBaxter-no account filed
May 1997Tornado (F0)Baxter-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Jasper 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
Ira4.4 miles8
Clyde6.1 miles8
Goddard7.8 miles8
Green Castle8.0 miles11
Mingo8.1 miles8
Lambs Grove9.3 miles8
Newton10.3 miles8
Metz11.1 miles8

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 BaxterAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1933795The 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 454391. 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.

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.