BlockBethesda, Iowa
8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1993. It stands in Douglas Township. It lies in ZIP code area 51632. The Survey maps it on the Clarinda North quadrangle.
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 8 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.
- 1955 USGS Nebraska City quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Nebraska City quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Nebraska City quadrangle1:250000
- 1978 USGS Clarinda North quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Nebraska City quadrangle1:100000
- 1993 USGS Nebraska City quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
2 since 2008Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Bethesda between 2008 and 2011, burning about 9 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 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 April 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 16 March 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | S. OF 137TH ST. JUST W. OF HEPBURN, IA |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
11 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Bethesda in 11 storm reports between 1993 and 2026: 5 hail, 5 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 1993 | Hail | Bethesda | $5,000 | Thunderstorms rolled across the southwest corner of Iowa during the early morning hours. Hail fell at a few locations, causing some damage to crops and property. |
| June 1994 | Hail | Bethesda | $5,000 | no account filed |
| April 2026 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bethesda | - | Personal weather station measured wind gust of 58 mph. |
| May 2024 | Tornado (EF1) | Bethesda | - | A short-lived tornado developed near 1760th Street west of N avenue and moved east northeast. It damage trees and outbuildings, including substantial damage to one large barn. Peak winds in this tornado were estimated to be at 100 miles per hour. The max path width of this tornado was measured at 80 yards, with an average width estimated at 70 yards. |
| June 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bethesda | - | Fire Department reported 1 foot tree limb down. |
| October 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bethesda | - | Clarinda Airport AWOS measured a peak wind gust of 58 mph. |
| September 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bethesda | - | A localized downburst flattened corn, caused failure to a door on a metal building, and peeled off its roof and throwing it into another building. There was damage to vehicles inside the metal shed. There was also tree limbs down nearby. This wind event occurred near 120th Street and O Avenue in Page County, between Swanton and Bethesda. |
| March 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bethesda | - | Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at over 60 mph knocked a few large trees down across a road around 8 miles south of Stanton. |
| June 2008 | Hail | Bethesda | - | The storms also dropped 2.1 inches of rain. |
| July 2012 | Hail | Bethesda | - | no account filed |
| March 2009 | Hail | Bethesda | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hepburn | 4.4 miles | 8 | |
| Nyman | 6.1 miles | 8 | |
| Clarinda | 7.7 miles | 12 | |
| Yorktown | 8.2 miles | 12 | |
| Tarkio City (historical) | 9.2 miles | 12 | |
| Page Center | 9.2 miles | 12 | |
| Hawleyville | 9.8 miles | 8 | |
| Norwich | 10.8 miles | 10 |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 454581. 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.