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Fern, Iowa

9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Beaver Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50642. The Survey maps it on the Holland quadrangle.

Fern within Grundy County

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

9 since 2006

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 9 fires within 5 miles of Fern between 2006 and 2015, burning about 88 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/undetermined6
Debris and open burning2
Equipment and vehicle use1

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
25 April 2006Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
28 March 2015Debris and open burning20 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
16 November 2012Debris and open burning4.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
7 October 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined40 acresIowa Department of Natural Resources24337 160TH ST. DIKE, IA, IA
5 October 2012Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
25 October 2007Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
24 October 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined20 acresIowa Department of Natural Resources10550 P AVE PARKERBURG, IA, IA
24 October 2007Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Grundy County

Storms near this place

14 since 2008

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Fern in 14 storm reports between 2008 and 2025: 4 heavy rain, 3 tornado, 3 hail, 2 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
May 2008Tornado (EF2)Fern$300,000This was the initial tornado touchdown point. The tornado continued on into Butler County.
August 2010Flash FloodFern$25,000Water from an unknown creek overflowed onto 120th Street between H Ave and I Ave in northern Grundy County.
August 2010Flash FloodFern$10,000Water of unknown depth running over 120th Street between I Ave and L Ave.
June 2013Thunderstorm WindFern$5,000Three inch tree branches blown down and one of them impaled into the ground.
April 2013HailFern$5,000Quarter size hail covering the ground.
August 2025Tornado (EFU)Fern-Satellite imagery revealed a track in agricultural fields. No DIs were impacted, resulting in an EF-U rating.
July 2022Heavy RainFern-A report of 5.30 inches of rain relayed by KWWL.
July 2020HailFern-A trained spotter reported quarter sized hail.
June 2018Heavy RainFern-Public reported heavy rainfall of 2.10 inches from late on the 25th though the morning and early afternoon of the 26th.
November 2016Funnel CloudFern-Trained spotter reported a funnel cloud 3 miles west of Stout.
November 2016Tornado (EF0)Fern-A tornado developed in far northern Grundy County in rural areas southwest of Parkersburg. The tornado was documented by video as it traveled northeast. The funnel was diffuse and intermittent for much of it's track. The tornado crossed into Butler County.
July 2015Heavy RainFern-Trained spotter reported heavy rainfall from thunderstorms earlier today of 2.70 inches.
July 2015Heavy RainFern-Trained spotter reported heavy rainfall of 2.85 inches.
April 2013HailFern-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Grundy 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
Lear3.4 miles9
Stout4.2 miles9
Buck Grove4.7 miles9
Holland6.1 miles9
Dairyville (historical)6.2 miles9
Lincoln7.0 miles9
Dike7.7 miles9
Grundy Center8.5 miles9

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 456576. 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.