Colo, Iowa
9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1993. It stands in New Albany Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50056. The Survey maps it on the Colo quadrangle. 845 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,040 feet above sea level.
On record in Colo
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
Mulcahy Barnlisted 2004
Population over time
2 figuresColo fell from 876 to 845 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 | 876 | |
| 2020 | 845 | -31 (-4%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 9 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 Waterloo quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1955 USGS Waterloo quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1975 USGS Colo quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Ames quadrangle1:100000
- 1993 USGS Ames quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
16 since 2008Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 16 fires within 5 miles of Colo between 2008 and 2020, burning about 40 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 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 | 7 |
| Debris and open burning | 7 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 1 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 July 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 29 June 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | 650TH AVE AND 250TH ST. (SECTION #21 NEVADA TOWNSH |
| 9 April 2019 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 9 April 2019 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 7 April 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | SEC 32 NEVADA TWP, IA |
| 29 April 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | MILE MARKER 162.05, WEST BOUND HIGHWAY 30 (SECTION |
| 15 April 2019 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 30 March 2020 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
2 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Colo: 2 past producers. 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.
Storms near this place
32 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Colo in 32 storm reports between 1993 and 2024: 11 hail, 9 thunderstorm wind, 7 flash flood, 2 lightning. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2018 | Lightning | Colo | 2 hurt | Two men were taken to the hospital after being struck by lightning at a golf course. Both men were injured and then released the following day from the hospital. One suffered nerve damage and the loss of hearing on one of his ears. |
| May 1998 | Hail | Colo | $500,000 | Ground covered 4 inches deep between Colo and Collins |
| May 2013 | Flash Flood | Colo | $50,000 | Water over the road near Hickory Grove Park on 670th Ave and 650th near 260th St. |
| May 1993 | Hail | Colo | $50,000 | no account filed |
| July 2015 | Flash Flood | Colo | $20,000 | Water reported to be about a foot deep across Highway 65 and Lincoln Highway and also north of Colo on Highway 65 and 190th St. |
| July 2015 | Flash Flood | Colo | $20,000 | Emergency Manager reports water over roadways in the city of Colo. |
| March 2008 | Flash Flood | Colo | $20,000 | no account filed |
| May 2013 | Flash Flood | Colo | $10,000 | Water about 18 inches deep over the intersection of Highway 65 and Lincoln Way or 230th St. |
| August 2009 | Lightning | Colo | $10,000 | no account filed |
| August 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Colo | $10,000 | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Colo | $10,000 | no account filed |
| May 2019 | Flood | Colo | $5,000 | Emergency manager relayed Iowa DOT report of water over the road at Highway 65 and 190th Street in Story County. |
| July 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Colo | $5,000 | no account filed |
| October 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Colo | $5,000 | no account filed |
| July 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Colo | $3,000 | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Colo | $3,000 | no account filed |
| June 1996 | Hail | Colo | $3,000 | no account filed |
| June 2017 | Hail | Colo | $2,000 | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Hail | Colo | $2,000 | no account filed |
| September 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Colo | $2,000 | no account filed |
| June 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Colo | $2,000 | no account filed |
| March 2005 | Hail | Colo | $1,000 | no account filed |
| July 2024 | Hail | Colo | - | Report of nickel to quarter sized hail. |
| July 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Colo | - | Trained spotter reports large tree branches down. |
| July 2020 | Hail | Colo | - | A trained spotter reported quarter sized hail on US 65 halfway between Colo and Zearing. |
| July 2020 | Hail | Colo | - | A trained spotter reported 1.25 to 1.5 inch hail southeast of Colo. |
| May 2019 | Flood | Colo | - | A trained spotter reported water over the road at Hwy 65 and 190th Street via a submitted video. |
| September 2018 | Flash Flood | Colo | - | Iowa DOT reported foot deep water along Highway 30 east of Highway 65. Story County Sheriff also reported Highway 30 on-ramp to Highway 65 under water. |
| September 2018 | Flash Flood | Colo | - | Iowa DOT reported Highway 65 at Old Lincoln Highway was completely under water. The local fire department was blocking the road. |
| August 2016 | Heavy Rain | Colo | - | Public reported storm total heavy rainfall of 5.00 inches. |
| June 2011 | Hail | Colo | - | no account filed |
| June 2004 | Hail | Colo | - | 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.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fernald | 5.6 miles | 9 | |
| Nevada | 7.3 miles | 9 | |
| Iowa Center | 7.8 miles | 8 | |
| Collins | 7.9 miles | 8 | |
| Robison-Whitaker Acres | 9.0 miles | 8 | |
| Maxwell | 9.8 miles | 8 | |
| Zearing | 9.9 miles | 9 | |
| Shipley | 10.7 miles | 11 |
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 Colo | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2044324 | 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 455538. 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.




