BlockBefore

Clarion, Iowa

9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Lincoln Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50525. The Survey maps it on the Clarion quadrangle. 2,810 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,171 feet above sea level.

Clarion within Wright County

On record in Clarion

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 3 records

Population over time

2 figures

Clarion fell from 2,850 to 2,810 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
20102,850
20202,810-40 (-1%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

4 surveys from 9 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

1 since 2006

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Clarion in 2006, burning under an acre 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/undetermined1

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
9 December 2006Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Wright County

Mines and quarries near this place

4 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Clarion: 3 producers, 1 past producer. 3 still produce. 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
AldrichSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
DorrSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Wright County

Storms near this place

50 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Clarion in 50 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 16 hail, 16 thunderstorm wind, 10 heavy rain, 4 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 FloodClarion$100,000no account filed
June 1998FloodClarion$75,000no account filed
June 2010Flash FloodClarion$50,000Highway 69 was under water 4 miles south of Belmond and Highway 3 was under water 1 mile west of Clarion.
July 2013HailClarion$50,000no account filed
June 1998FloodClarion$50,000no account filed
June 2015Thunderstorm WindClarion$25,000Public reported power lines and tree limbs down throughout town. Report via WOI and time radar estimated.
June 2014Thunderstorm WindClarion$25,000A four foot tree was down on a house and car in the 1000 block of S. Main St.
August 1998HailClarion$25,000no account filed
July 2010Flash FloodClarion$15,000County Road R38 and a few other county roads were closed due to flooding.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindClarion$15,000Five evergreen trees 18 to 24 inches in diameter were uprooted. Also 2 trees were uprooted on the northwest edge of Dows.
July 2013HailClarion$10,000A trained spotter reports mostly dime to quarter size hail, with the largest measured at 1.5 inches.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindClarion$10,000Trees and power lines reported down in Clarion.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindClarion$10,000Trees and power lines reported down.
June 2002Thunderstorm WindClarion$10,000no account filed
May 1996HailClarion$10,000no account filed
April 2025Thunderstorm WindClarion$5,000Damage to a farm out building.
August 2014Thunderstorm WindClarion$5,000A healthy tree 24 inches in diameter was snapped near the base by strong winds.
May 2011HailClarion$5,000Quarter size hail reported in the town of Clarion.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindClarion$5,000Large trees were downed, blocking two lanes of traffic.
June 2004Thunderstorm WindClarion$5,000no account filed
September 2001HailClarion$5,000no account filed
July 2013HailClarion$3,000no account filed
May 2004Thunderstorm WindClarion$2,000no account filed
June 2001Thunderstorm WindClarion$2,000no account filed
August 1998HailClarion$2,000no account filed
May 2004HailClarion$1,000no account filed
September 2025HailClarion-Spotter reports quarter sized hail fell just north of the Clarion city limits. Time estimated.
July 2024Flash FloodClarion-Estimated three to four inches of water and rising over Nelson Avenue north of Highway 3 and east of Clarion.
July 2024Heavy RainClarion-Personal weather station report of 3.1 inches of rain.
April 2022Thunderstorm WindClarion-Peak gust at Clarion.
August 2021Heavy RainClarion-A 24 hour rain total of 3.27 inches.
August 2018Heavy RainClarion-Public reported heavy rainfall of 3.3 inches.
September 2018Heavy RainClarion-CoCoRaHS observer recorded heavy rainfall of 3.40 inches over the last 24 hours.
May 2017HailClarion-Trained spotter reported nickel sized hail at the Iowa Specialty Hospital. Power reported out at the time as well.
May 2016Heavy RainClarion-Public reported heavy rainfall of 2.50 inches for a storm total. Reported via social media.
May 2016Heavy RainClarion-Public reported heavy rainfall of 2.50 inches, via social media.
September 2016Heavy RainClarion-Coop observer recorded heavy rainfall of 3.82 inches over the last 24 hours.
August 2016Heavy RainClarion-Public reported storm total heavy rainfall of 3.00 inches.
May 2013Thunderstorm WindClarion-Reported at the Clarion AWOS site.
June 2010Heavy RainClarion-The Wright County Sheriffs office reported highway 3 east and west of Clarion beginning to flood, along with county road K north of town.
June 2008Heavy RainClarion-Rainfall of 1.5 inches.
May 2004Tornado (F0)Clarion-Brief touchdown in open area northwest of Clarion.
August 2018HailClarion-no account filed
August 2014HailClarion-no account filed
June 2008Thunderstorm WindClarion-no account filed
June 2004Thunderstorm WindClarion-no account filed
August 2002HailClarion-no account filed
June 1999Tornado (F0)Clarion-no account filed
September 1998HailClarion-no account filed
June 1997HailClarion-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Wright 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
Cornelia4.8 miles9
Florence5.0 miles9
Sollberg5.1 miles9
Holmes5.4 miles9
Morhain6.7 miles9
Galt7.2 miles9
Drew (historical)8.9 miles9
Rowan9.6 miles9

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 ClarionAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q548653The 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 455428. 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.