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.
Population over time
2 figuresBuffalo 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 905 | |
| 2020 | 857 | -48 (-5%) |
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 Buffalo Center quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Mason City quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
9 since 2011Regional 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/undetermined | 4 |
| Debris and open burning | 3 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 September 2012 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 29 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | 60TH AND 360TH ST. BUFFALO CENTER, IA |
| 29 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | SOUTH OF 1409 470TH ST., IA |
| 28 September 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 26 September 2018 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 24 June 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 8 May 2013 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 7 October 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | 44836 30TH AVE BUFFALO CENTER, IA |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown |
Storms near this place
32 since 1995Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo Center | $40,000 | Multiple trees were downed, a shed destroyed, garage damaged, and a tree was against a home. |
| August 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo Center | $40,000 | no account filed |
| August 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo Center | $30,000 | High winds snapped the top off of a power pole. |
| August 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo Center | $20,000 | no account filed |
| July 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo Center | $15,000 | County dispatch reported multiple trees down and power line damage in town. This is a delayed report and time estimated from radar. |
| May 2002 | Lightning | Buffalo Center | $15,000 | no account filed |
| June 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo Center | $10,000 | Several large tree limbs down with power lines down. |
| June 2010 | Hail | Buffalo Center | $10,000 | Hail ranging from pea to golf ball size. |
| August 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo Center | $10,000 | Thunderstorms produced wind gusts of around 60 MPH, toppling several trees in the city park. |
| July 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo Center | $10,000 | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Hail | Buffalo Center | $5,000 | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo Center | $5,000 | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Hail | Buffalo Center | $5,000 | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo Center | $5,000 | no account filed |
| May 2001 | Hail | Buffalo Center | $5,000 | no account filed |
| June 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo Center | $5,000 | no account filed |
| July 1997 | Lightning | Buffalo Center | $5,000 | no account filed |
| July 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo Center | $5,000 | no account filed |
| August 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo Center | $5,000 | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo Center | $3,000 | Law enforcement reported a fallen tree blocking Highway 9. |
| May 2017 | Hail | Buffalo Center | $2,000 | Buffalo Center fire department reported ping pong ball sized hail. Time estimated from radar. |
| May 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo Center | $1,000 | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo Center | $1,000 | no account filed |
| March 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Buffalo Center | $1,000 | no account filed |
| June 1995 | Hail | Buffalo Center | $1,000 | no account filed |
| June 2024 | Heavy Rain | Buffalo Center | - | Social media report of 4 inches of rain. |
| June 2024 | Heavy Rain | Buffalo Center | - | Public report via social media of 4 inches of rain overnight. |
| September 2020 | Heavy Rain | Buffalo Center | - | A personal weather station reported 3.44 inches of rain. |
| March 2017 | Hail | Buffalo Center | - | Trained spotter reported ongoing quarter sized hail. |
| May 2017 | Hail | Buffalo Center | - | Buffalo Center fire department reported quarter sized hail. Time estimated from radar. |
| June 2014 | Tornado (EF0) | Buffalo Center | - | A brief landspout occurred to the southeast of Buffalo Center on leading edge of storm. |
| June 2013 | Funnel Cloud | Buffalo Center | - | Brief heavy rain also reported. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rake | 6.9 miles | 7 | |
| Thompson | 9.2 miles | 7 | |
| Amund (historical) | 10.1 miles | 7 | |
| Vinje | 15.5 miles | 7 | |
| Leland | 16.8 miles | 7 | |
| Scarville | 18.4 miles | 7 | |
| Forest City | 18.5 miles | 7 | |
| Ratna (historical) | 21.1 miles | 8 |
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 Center | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1922661 | 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 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.




