Clarence, Iowa
12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1889 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Dayton Township. It lies in ZIP code area 52216. The Survey maps it on the Clarence quadrangle. 1,039 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 837 feet above sea level.
On record in Clarence
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
Mill Creek Bridgelisted 1998
Population over time
2 figuresClarence grew from 974 to 1,039 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 | 974 | |
| 2020 | 1,039 | +65 (+7%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 12 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.
- 1889 USGS Tipton quadrangle1:62500
- 1890 USGS Tipton quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1901 USGS Stanwood quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Davenport quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1961 USGS Davenport quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Davenport quadrangle1:250000
- 1980 USGS Clarence quadrangle1:24000
- 1984 USGS Iowa City quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
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 Clarence: 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kelly Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
29 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Clarence in 29 storm reports between 1993 and 2026: 15 thunderstorm wind, 8 hail, 2 flood, 2 flash flood. The reports record 2 injuries. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clarence | 1 hurt, $55,000 | no account filed |
| April 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clarence | 1 hurt, $20,000 | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Tornado (F1) | Clarence | $1,000,000 | Strong F1...winds estimated around 110 mph. |
| April 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clarence | $100,000 | The same line of storms produced a severe downburst in Clarence and immediately south. Winds with this downburst were estimated at 83-87 knots (95-100 mph).In Clarence, Hunwardsen Fabrication lost the roof and one entire wall of their building with the debris scattered across the parking lot to the west. South of town a grain bin and a gazebo were destroyed. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clarence | $50,000 | Wind gusts estimated to be 70 mph blew down a number of trees onto cars and power lines in Clarence, IA around 1 pm June 18. This report was relayed by KGAN. |
| May 1993 | Hail | Clarence | $50,000 | no account filed |
| June 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clarence | $15,000 | A warm and humid air mass was over Iowa during the day. The outflow boundary from convection to the west of the state during the previous night moved into Iowa from the northwest. By mid afternoon it was about one-third the way southeast across the state. The actual cold front remained west of the state. Winds aloft were nearly nonexistent and as a result thunderstorms that did develop were nearly truly air mass type. A few storms became severe as new cells formed on the collisions of outflow boundaries from earlier storms. Three-quarters inch diameter hail fell south of the Dubuque Airport in eastern Iowa. About the same time, a storm over Wright County produced high winds in Eagle Grove. Several trees were downed in the city. During the evening, thunderstorms moved across Poweshiek County. Lightning struck a main feeder line near Searsboro, knocking the electricity in Montezuma. Winds downed several trees in the city of Montezuma. Another storm downed several trees and flipped dog houses southwest of Clarence in Cedar County. Most of the storms produced brief but very heavy rains, small hail, and winds of 30 to 50 mph. A few spots picked up over three inches of rain in a short time. Flooding was not reported as soil conditions were very dry. |
| April 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clarence | $5,000 | no account filed |
| July 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clarence | $4,000 | A small area of thunderstorms dropped southeast across northeast and east central Iowa during the early morning hours. They formed in conjunction with a weak upper level disturbance moving through a moist and unstable air mass. A few of the storms became marginally severe as they moved through Clinton and Cedar Counties. Trees were downed in both counties. A car was blown off the road northeast of Clarence in Cedar County. |
| July 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clarence | $3,000 | Large pine tree down on a farm house with a power line down. |
| July 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clarence | $2,000 | Wind gusts estimated to be 60 mph blew down some tree limbs onto some power lines in Clarence, IA at 1128 am CDT July 24. |
| March 2004 | Hail | Clarence | $2,000 | no account filed |
| June 2007 | Lightning | Clarence | $1,000 | A house was struck by lightning knocking the chimney off and causing some electrical wiring damage. |
| July 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clarence | - | Large tree downed on 5th Avenue, on the south side of town. |
| July 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clarence | - | Large tree branches blown down. |
| May 2019 | Flash Flood | Clarence | - | Flash flooding closed portions of Highway 30 in Clarence. |
| May 2019 | Flash Flood | Clarence | - | Law enforcement and spotters reported Highway 30 closed in both directions due to flash flooding. |
| May 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clarence | - | Several three inch diameter branches blown down. |
| July 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clarence | - | Wind gusts estimated to be 75 mph blew down numerous trees and limbs in Clarence, IA around 820 pm CDT July 22. |
| March 2012 | Hail | Clarence | - | Tennis ball sized hail fell in Clarence around 950 pm CDT March 31. It hailed from 950 pm until 1020 pm. |
| March 2012 | Hail | Clarence | - | Quarter to silver dollar sized hail fell about 1 mile east of Clarence at 951 pm CDT March 31. |
| March 2012 | Hail | Clarence | - | Golf ball sized hail fell in Clarence around 955 pm CDT March 31. The hail lasted for 5 to 7 minutes. This report was relayed by a trained spotter. |
| August 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clarence | - | A report received via ESPOTTER estimated thunderstorm wind gusts around 72 mph. |
| March 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Clarence | - | The roofs were blown off 2 buildings at a farmstead. |
| July 2002 | Flood | Clarence | - | Roadside park flooded. |
| July 2002 | Flood | Clarence | - | Yankee River overflowed its banks flooding some pasture. |
| April 2026 | Hail | Clarence | - | no account filed |
| June 2015 | Hail | Clarence | - | no account filed |
| April 1997 | Hail | Clarence | - | 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.
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 Clarence | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1000178 | 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 455423. 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.
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.







