BlockBefore

Buffalo Center, Iowa

7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Buffalo Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50424. The Survey maps it on the Buffalo Center quadrangle. 857 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,191 feet above sea level.

Buffalo Center within Winnebago County

Population over time

2 figures

Buffalo Center fell from 905 to 857 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
2010905
2020857-48 (-5%)

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

9 since 2011

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 9 fires within 5 miles of Buffalo Center between 2011 and 2020, burning about 16 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/undetermined4
Debris and open burning3
Equipment and vehicle use2

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 2012Debris and open burningunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
29 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined5.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resources60TH AND 360TH ST. BUFFALO CENTER, IA
29 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined6.0 acresIowa Department of Natural ResourcesSOUTH OF 1409 470TH ST., IA
28 September 2012Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
26 September 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
24 June 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
8 May 2013Debris and open burning2.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
7 October 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resources44836 30TH AVE BUFFALO CENTER, IA

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Winnebago County

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Buffalo Center: 1 unknown. None of them still produces. What was taken out: 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, ConstructionUnknown

Every working recorded in Winnebago County

Storms near this place

32 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Buffalo Center in 32 storm reports between 1995 and 2024: 17 thunderstorm wind, 8 hail, 3 heavy rain, 2 lightning. 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 2008Thunderstorm WindBuffalo Center$40,000Multiple trees were downed, a shed destroyed, garage damaged, and a tree was against a home.
August 2000Thunderstorm WindBuffalo Center$40,000no account filed
August 2010Thunderstorm WindBuffalo Center$30,000High winds snapped the top off of a power pole.
August 1996Thunderstorm WindBuffalo Center$20,000no account filed
July 2017Thunderstorm WindBuffalo Center$15,000County dispatch reported multiple trees down and power line damage in town. This is a delayed report and time estimated from radar.
May 2002LightningBuffalo Center$15,000no account filed
June 2014Thunderstorm WindBuffalo Center$10,000Several large tree limbs down with power lines down.
June 2010HailBuffalo Center$10,000Hail ranging from pea to golf ball size.
August 2010Thunderstorm WindBuffalo Center$10,000Thunderstorms produced wind gusts of around 60 MPH, toppling several trees in the city park.
July 1998Thunderstorm WindBuffalo Center$10,000no account filed
June 2010HailBuffalo Center$5,000no account filed
June 2005Thunderstorm WindBuffalo Center$5,000no account filed
May 2004HailBuffalo Center$5,000no account filed
July 2003Thunderstorm WindBuffalo Center$5,000no account filed
May 2001HailBuffalo Center$5,000no account filed
June 1999Thunderstorm WindBuffalo Center$5,000no account filed
July 1997LightningBuffalo Center$5,000no account filed
July 1997Thunderstorm WindBuffalo Center$5,000no account filed
August 1995Thunderstorm WindBuffalo Center$5,000no account filed
June 2010Thunderstorm WindBuffalo Center$3,000Law enforcement reported a fallen tree blocking Highway 9.
May 2017HailBuffalo Center$2,000Buffalo Center fire department reported ping pong ball sized hail. Time estimated from radar.
May 2004Thunderstorm WindBuffalo Center$1,000no account filed
May 2004Thunderstorm WindBuffalo Center$1,000no account filed
March 1995Thunderstorm WindBuffalo Center$1,000no account filed
June 1995HailBuffalo Center$1,000no account filed
June 2024Heavy RainBuffalo Center-Social media report of 4 inches of rain.
June 2024Heavy RainBuffalo Center-Public report via social media of 4 inches of rain overnight.
September 2020Heavy RainBuffalo Center-A personal weather station reported 3.44 inches of rain.
March 2017HailBuffalo Center-Trained spotter reported ongoing quarter sized hail.
May 2017HailBuffalo Center-Buffalo Center fire department reported quarter sized hail. Time estimated from radar.
June 2014Tornado (EF0)Buffalo Center-A brief landspout occurred to the southeast of Buffalo Center on leading edge of storm.
June 2013Funnel CloudBuffalo Center-Brief heavy rain also reported.

Every storm recorded in Winnebago 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
Rake6.9 miles7
Thompson9.2 miles7
Amund (historical)10.1 miles7
Vinje15.5 miles7
Leland16.8 miles7
Scarville18.4 miles7
Forest City18.5 miles7
Ratna (historical)21.1 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 Buffalo CenterAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1922661The 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 454952. 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.