BlockBefore

Humeston, Iowa

12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1934 and the latest in 1982. It stands in Richman Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50123. The Survey maps it on the Humeston quadrangle. 465 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,102 feet above sea level.

Research this city

Humeston within Wayne County

Population over time

2 figures

Humeston fell from 494 to 465 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
2010494
2020465-29 (-6%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 12 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

27 since 2006

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 27 fires within 5 miles of Humeston between 2006 and 2019, burning about 642 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
Debris and open burning14
Missing data/not specified/undetermined12
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
21 September 2012Debris and open burning5.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
9 August 2019Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.9 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
5 August 2012Debris and open burning1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
22 August 2012Equipment and vehicle use10 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
21 May 2008Missing data/not specified/undetermined10 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
1 May 2013Debris and open burning50 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
9 April 2008Missing data/not specified/undetermined30 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
6 April 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined30 acresIowa Department of Natural ResourcesS OF 60TH AND VALE IN WAYNE CO, IA

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Wayne County

Storms near this place

49 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Humeston in 49 storm reports between 1998 and 2024: 22 hail, 11 heavy rain, 10 thunderstorm wind, 2 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
April 2007FloodHumeston$250,000no account filed
July 2015Flash FloodHumeston$200,000Department of Transportation reported multiple secondary roads flooded. Delayed report and time estimated from radar.
March 2022Tornado (EF2)Humeston$100,000The tornado continued into Wayne county from Decatur county. Once again, this tornado remained in mostly rural areas of the county, bypassing Humeston just to the north. Power poles snapped along J22 west of Humeston produced EF2 damage and there was damage to outbuildings just north of Humeston along Highway 65. However, the bulk of the path interacted with either empty cropland or woodland areas with numerous trees being toppled. The tornado passsed into Lucas county after crossing Watrous Road east of 70th Street.
July 2009Flash FloodHumeston$50,000Several gravel roads washed out.
June 2002HailHumeston$50,000no account filed
August 2007Thunderstorm WindHumeston$30,000no account filed
June 2002HailHumeston$20,000no account filed
July 2003HailHumeston$10,000no account filed
June 2001Thunderstorm WindHumeston$10,000no account filed
May 1998Thunderstorm WindHumeston$10,000no account filed
May 2018Thunderstorm WindHumeston$5,000Public reported multiple tree limbs down in excess of 3 inches in diameter. This is a delayed report.
May 2013HailHumeston$5,000Social Media report of quarter to half dollar size hail in Humeston.
June 2005HailHumeston$5,000no account filed
August 2004Thunderstorm WindHumeston$5,000no account filed
August 2003Thunderstorm WindHumeston$5,000no account filed
July 2008Thunderstorm WindHumeston$3,000no account filed
August 2004Thunderstorm WindHumeston$3,000no account filed
July 2003Thunderstorm WindHumeston$3,000no account filed
June 2005HailHumeston$2,000no account filed
April 2001HailHumeston$2,000no account filed
November 2005HailHumeston$1,000no account filed
November 2005HailHumeston$1,000no account filed
May 2024HailHumeston-Delayed report from media of two inch hail near Humeston.
May 2024HailHumeston-Relayed from broadcast media of a social media report of tennis ball size hail near Humeston.
May 2024HailHumeston-Social media report of hail, in which the size was estimated.
May 2024HailHumeston-Delayed report with picture of at least baseball sized hail on the west side of Humeston.
March 2022Tornado (EFU)Humeston-This tornado crossed into Wayne county from Decatur county. This tornado was documented by a storm chaser and also from high resolution satellite imagery. The short path in this county did not impact any damage indicators, hence the EFU rating.
June 2021Thunderstorm WindHumeston-Fire department reports power pole snapped at base and with another snapped three fourths of the way up. Time estimated via radar.
July 2021Heavy RainHumeston-Report of 2.22 inches of rain in 2 hours.
July 2021Heavy RainHumeston-A 24 hour rain total of 2.67 inches.
July 2020Heavy RainHumeston-A trained spotter reported a 24 hour rain total of 2.21 inches.
September 2019Heavy RainHumeston-Trained spotter reported a 24 hour heavy rainfall total of 2.09 inches. The two full day total, Saturday and Sunday, was 2.79 inches.
June 2019HailHumeston-Public reported quarter sized hail.
June 2019HailHumeston-Public reported quarter sized hail. This is a delayed report.
August 2019Heavy RainHumeston-Trained spotter, via social media, reported heavy rainfall of 3.43 inches. Beginning and ending times estimated from radar.
May 2018HailHumeston-Public reported golf ball sized hail.
May 2018HailHumeston-Trained spotter reported half dollar sized hail.
September 2018Heavy RainHumeston-Trained spotter reported heavy rainfall of 2.24 inches. Due to database entry limitation, beginning time coded as midnight CST.
October 2018Heavy RainHumeston-Public reported heavy rainfall of 2.40 inches. Beginning time estimated from radar.
June 2016HailHumeston-Report via social media.
July 2016Heavy RainHumeston-Public reported heavy rainfall of 1.87 inches event total, via social media.
July 2015Heavy RainHumeston-Public reported storm total in excess of 5.00 inches of rain. Report via social media.
July 2015Heavy RainHumeston-Public reported storm total heavy rainfall of 2.30 inches.
August 2014Heavy RainHumeston-Rainfall of 3.5 inches in the past 24 hours.
April 2015HailHumeston-no account filed
February 2014HailHumeston-no account filed
February 2014HailHumeston-no account filed
September 2010HailHumeston-no account filed
June 2010FloodHumeston-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Wayne 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
Cambria5.2 miles12
Saxon7.6 miles12
Peoria8.3 miles12
Ovia9.5 miles12
Millerton10.2 miles12
Corydon11.8 miles12
Big Spring (historical)12.2 miles7
New York12.6 miles12

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 HumestonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1931867The 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 457720. 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.