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Cromwell, Iowa

9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1993. It stands in Douglas Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50801. The Survey maps it on the Creston West quadrangle. 105 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,286 feet above sea level.

Cromwell within Union County

Population over time

2 figures

Cromwell fell from 107 to 105 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
2010107
2020105-2 (-2%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 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

20 since 2007

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 20 fires within 5 miles of Cromwell between 2007 and 2020, burning about 133 acres 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/undetermined7
Debris and open burning5
Railroad operations and maintenance3
Smoking2
Equipment and vehicle use2
Recreation and ceremony1

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
26 September 2020Equipment and vehicle use15 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
17 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
12 August 2013Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
18 July 2012Debris and open burning1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
7 April 2008Missing data/not specified/undetermined5.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
5 April 2018Debris and open burning1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
5 April 2013Debris and open burning75 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
13 April 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resources1604 TULIP AVE, IA

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Union County

Storms near this place

19 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Cromwell in 19 storm reports between 1995 and 2024: 6 tornado, 5 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind, 3 heavy rain. 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
April 2012Tornado (EF2)Cromwell2 hurt, $5,000,000This tornado continued in from Adams county. NWS storm survey confirmed a strong EF2 tornado. It entered Union county just southwest of Cromwell and tracked east-northeast through the far northwest portion of Creston. The Greater Regional Medical Center and Southwest Community College sustained EF2 damage with the worst occurring to the Green Hills Education Center. The tornado continued tracking northeast and damaged a few farmsteads northeast of Creston.
April 2024Tornado (EF2)Cromwell$300,000This tornado entered Union County from Adams County south of Cromwell. The tornado moved northeast through western Union county remaining in mostly rural locations. It did impact a few farmsteads along the way with mostly tree and outbuilding damage. The tornado moved into the far northwest portions of Creston producing EF2 damage to a multiple story townhouse along with taking down several trees. The tornado weakened quickly after this point with some minor damage observed at the atletic fields of the high school. The tornado then moved into open farmland north of Creston before dissipating.
September 2010Flash FloodCromwell$250,000Numerous roads flooded from Creston west to the county line. Rainfall reported of 4 to 6 inches.
May 1995Thunderstorm WindCromwell$100,000no account filed
October 2018Tornado (EF1)Cromwell$40,000This tornado developed between Creston and Cromwell in western Union county and traveled on a somewhat unusual northwest path. Tornado was mostly in open rural cropland for nearly two miles producing only crop damage. However, the tornado encountered farmsteads along Clover Avenue about one half mile south of 170th Street. A garage was destroyed on the west side of the road and was rated EF1 damage given generally poor construction. Additional EF1 damage was observed with the nearby house with a portion of the roof and truss structure removed. Tree damage was observed across the road at an adjacent house. Additional minor damage was found about one quarter mile farther up the road with the last damage noted north of 170th Street on the west side of the road where a few roof panels were blown off an old metal shed.
May 2010HailCromwell$5,000Quarter size hail covering the ground.
June 2008HailCromwell$5,000no account filed
June 2008Thunderstorm WindCromwell$2,000no account filed
May 2024Tornado (EF0)Cromwell$1,000This tornado moved into Union County from Adams County just to the northwest of Cromwell. The tornado impacted a few trees on the northwest edge of Cromwell and then dissipated shortly thereafter.
April 2012HailCromwell$1,000no account filed
May 2011HailCromwell$1,000no account filed
July 2023Thunderstorm WindCromwell-Delayed report of tree limbs down.
March 2022Tornado (EFU)Cromwell-This tornado moved into Union county from Adams county. The tornado remained in rural cropland for its short path in Adams county. Not encountering any damage indicators in the county, it was rated EFU.
October 2021Heavy RainCromwell-A 48 hour rain total of 3.67 inches.
June 2019Heavy RainCromwell-Trained spotter reported 2 inches of rain in about 30 minutes. The rain begin about 7pm.
June 2019HailCromwell-Trained spotter reported hail that lasted about 5 minutes, with largest stones the size of quarters.
August 2015Heavy RainCromwell-Public reported heavy rainfall of 3.50 inches over the last 24 hours.
March 2011Tornado (EF0)Cromwell-Tornado spotted with debris cloud.
May 1996Funnel CloudCromwell-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Union 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
Creston5.5 miles9
Kent6.0 miles8
East Creston6.8 miles9
Spaulding9.8 miles9
Afton14.0 miles11
Shannon City14.2 miles8
Arispe14.3 miles8
Shepard (historical)16.7 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 CromwellAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1935077The 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 455725. 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.

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.