BlockBefore

Chelsea, Iowa

8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Salt Creek Township. It lies in ZIP code area 52215. The Survey maps it on the Chelsea quadrangle. 229 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 781 feet above sea level.

Chelsea within Tama County

On record in Chelsea

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

Chelsea fell from 267 to 229 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
2010267
2020229-38 (-14%)

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

16 since 2004

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 16 fires within 5 miles of Chelsea between 2004 and 2020, burning about 712 acres in total. None started naturally. 6 were 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
Arson/incendiarism6
Debris and open burning5
Missing data/not specified/undetermined5

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
14 June 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined250 acresIowa Department of Natural ResourcesDNR WILDLIFE
8 April 2016Arson/incendiarism30 acresIowa Department of Natural ResourcesTAMA
5 April 2004Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresPort Louisa National Wildlife RefugeMAPLE FIRE
21 April 2020Debris and open burning40 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
21 April 2020Arson/incendiarism10 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
2 April 2011Debris and open burning250 acresPort Louisa National Wildlife RefugeMORMON GROUND
2 April 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined5.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resources2810 330TH ST., IA
16 April 2020Arson/incendiarism4.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Tama 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 Chelsea: 1 past producer. 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, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Tama County

Storms near this place

21 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Chelsea in 21 storm reports between 1993 and 2020: 14 thunderstorm wind, 5 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
June 2007Flash FloodChelsea$100,000no account filed
September 2013Thunderstorm WindChelsea$50,000Winds estimated at 60 to 65 MPH.
March 2017Thunderstorm WindChelsea$40,000Emergency manager reported power lines down, house damage, and a barn blown down.
June 2014Thunderstorm WindChelsea$35,000A corn crib was destroyed by high winds.
July 2015Thunderstorm WindChelsea$15,000A large tree was blown over in town. Sweet corn was also blown over.
June 2014Thunderstorm WindChelsea$10,000Several 8 to 10 inch diameter limbs down. Corn flattened.
September 2013Thunderstorm WindChelsea$10,000Five inch branches down around town. Winds estimated over 60 MPH.
August 2013Thunderstorm WindChelsea$5,000High winds downed trees.
May 2003HailChelsea$5,000no account filed
August 1993Thunderstorm WindChelsea$5,000no account filed
August 2009Thunderstorm WindChelsea$3,000High winds and small hail reported.
September 2000HailChelsea$3,000no account filed
September 2000HailChelsea$3,000no account filed
August 2013Thunderstorm WindChelsea$2,000Trained spotter reported 60 MPH winds with 3 to 4 inch diameter branches down.
June 2012Thunderstorm WindChelsea$2,000Wind continued to gust between 50 and 60 MPH at 1605 CST.
August 2013Thunderstorm WindChelsea$1,000Trained spotter reported 3 to 5 inch diameter branches down.
April 1998HailChelsea$1,000no account filed
August 2020Thunderstorm WindChelsea-A trained spotter reported 90 mph wind gusts.
March 2017Thunderstorm WindChelsea-Trained spotter reported wind gusts to 60 plus MPH and quarter sized hail.
September 2000HailChelsea-no account filed
June 1998Tornado (F0)Chelsea-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Tama 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
Helena4.2 miles8
Haven4.9 miles8
Vining4.9 miles8
Long Point5.1 miles8
Redman (historical)6.1 miles9
Gladstone6.3 miles8
Elberon7.3 miles9
Tama10.2 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 ChelseaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1933749The 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 455368. 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.