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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.

Colo within Story County

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

Population over time

2 figures

Colo 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.

YearPeople Change
2010876
2020845-31 (-4%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 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

16 since 2008

Regional 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/undetermined7
Debris and open burning7
Equipment and vehicle use1
Arson/incendiarism1

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
19 July 2012Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
29 June 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resources650TH AVE AND 250TH ST. (SECTION #21 NEVADA TOWNSH
9 April 2019Debris and open burning1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
9 April 2019Debris and open burning1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
7 April 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural ResourcesSEC 32 NEVADA TWP, IA
29 April 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIowa Department of Natural ResourcesMILE MARKER 162.05, WEST BOUND HIGHWAY 30 (SECTION
15 April 2019Debris and open burning5.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
30 March 2020Debris and open burning1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Story County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional 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.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Story County

Storms near this place

32 since 1993

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
July 2018LightningColo2 hurtTwo 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 1998HailColo$500,000Ground covered 4 inches deep between Colo and Collins
May 2013Flash FloodColo$50,000Water over the road near Hickory Grove Park on 670th Ave and 650th near 260th St.
May 1993HailColo$50,000no account filed
July 2015Flash FloodColo$20,000Water 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 2015Flash FloodColo$20,000Emergency Manager reports water over roadways in the city of Colo.
March 2008Flash FloodColo$20,000no account filed
May 2013Flash FloodColo$10,000Water about 18 inches deep over the intersection of Highway 65 and Lincoln Way or 230th St.
August 2009LightningColo$10,000no account filed
August 2004Thunderstorm WindColo$10,000no account filed
June 1998Thunderstorm WindColo$10,000no account filed
May 2019FloodColo$5,000Emergency manager relayed Iowa DOT report of water over the road at Highway 65 and 190th Street in Story County.
July 2012Thunderstorm WindColo$5,000no account filed
October 2002Thunderstorm WindColo$5,000no account filed
July 1999Thunderstorm WindColo$3,000no account filed
May 1998Thunderstorm WindColo$3,000no account filed
June 1996HailColo$3,000no account filed
June 2017HailColo$2,000no account filed
June 2008HailColo$2,000no account filed
September 2004Thunderstorm WindColo$2,000no account filed
June 2000Thunderstorm WindColo$2,000no account filed
March 2005HailColo$1,000no account filed
July 2024HailColo-Report of nickel to quarter sized hail.
July 2021Thunderstorm WindColo-Trained spotter reports large tree branches down.
July 2020HailColo-A trained spotter reported quarter sized hail on US 65 halfway between Colo and Zearing.
July 2020HailColo-A trained spotter reported 1.25 to 1.5 inch hail southeast of Colo.
May 2019FloodColo-A trained spotter reported water over the road at Hwy 65 and 190th Street via a submitted video.
September 2018Flash FloodColo-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 2018Flash FloodColo-Iowa DOT reported Highway 65 at Old Lincoln Highway was completely under water. The local fire department was blocking the road.
August 2016Heavy RainColo-Public reported storm total heavy rainfall of 5.00 inches.
June 2011HailColo-no account filed
June 2004HailColo-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Story 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
Fernald5.6 miles9
Nevada7.3 miles9
Iowa Center7.8 miles8
Collins7.9 miles8
Robison-Whitaker Acres9.0 miles8
Maxwell9.8 miles8
Zearing9.9 miles9
Shipley10.7 miles11

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 ColoAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2044324The 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.