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Modale, Iowa

9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Taylor Township. It lies in ZIP code area 51556. It stands on Fish Lake. The Survey maps it on the Modale quadrangle. 273 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,010 feet above sea level.

Modale within Harrison County

On record in Modale

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

Modale fell from 283 to 273 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
2010283
2020273-10 (-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

12 since 2006

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 12 fires within 5 miles of Modale between 2006 and 2018, burning about 194 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 burning3
Smoking1
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
19 September 2012Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
19 September 2012Missing data/not specified/undetermined55 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
6 June 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
5 June 2017Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
9 April 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined50 acresIowa Department of Natural ResourcesMISSOURI VALLEY FIRE DEPT.
6 April 2014Debris and open burning35 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
19 April 2014Debris and open burning18 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
30 March 2014Missing data/not specified/undetermined20 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Harrison County

Storms near this place

30 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Modale in 30 storm reports between 1996 and 2026: 17 hail, 9 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood, 2 tornado. 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
July 1999Thunderstorm WindModale$5,000Thunderstorm wind damaged some farm equipment.
April 2026HailModale-Public report of hail measured up to 1 inch in diameter in Modale, IA.
May 2024Thunderstorm WindModale-An enhanced area of straight-line wind damage with a maximum speed of 107 mph created widespread damage across nearly 13 square miles. This damage was located 4 miles west of Modale where center pivots were overturned. The damage extended eastward into the Loess Hills where numerous trees were snapped, uprooted and topped. Several power lines were downed in this area as well. Damage occurred to numerous grain bins in this area, but the most extensive and widespread damage was to trees throughout this area.
April 2024Tornado (EF1)Modale-This segment is a continuation of the EF-4 tornado that went through western Douglas and Washington Counties. Upon entering far southwestern Harrison County, the tornado moved across the Missouri River, crossing Highway 30 and the Union Pacific Rail line about one mile east of the Iowa-Nebraska state line. Several trees were snapped and broken, producing EF-0 damage. The tornado then moved across bottomland and agricultural areas, snapping or uprooting several trees and tipping center pivots, producing EF-0 to EF-1 damage. The tornado dissipated approximately 2 miles southwest of Modale, Iowa at 4:29 pm CDT. Peak estimated winds during this segment of the tornado track were estimated at 90 miles per hour. The peak width of the tornado during its track in Harrison County was estimated to be around 350 yards, with an average width of 100 yards.
May 2012Thunderstorm WindModale-Some tree limbs and a power pole were downed in the Modale area by thunderstorms winds estimated at around 60 mph. The time was estimated by radar.
June 2010HailModale-Nickel size hail fell for around 10 minutes.
July 2009Thunderstorm WindModale-Thunderstorm winds estimated at close to 60 mph downed a large tree branch in the area.
June 2009Thunderstorm WindModale-Thunderstorm winds estimated at close to 60 mph ripped the top part of a grain bin off near Modale spilling the corn stored inside.
August 2009HailModale-A few hailstones a bit larger than golf ball-size fell in the Modale area. The larger hailstones were relatively few and far between.
April 2007HailModale-The hail caused some minor vehicle damage in the area.
September 2007Thunderstorm WindModale-Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at least at 60 mph broke large tree branches and downed a few old trees in town.
September 2007Thunderstorm WindModale-Large tree branches were reported down.
April 2005Thunderstorm WindModale-Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at over 60 mph overturned a center pivot and bent a few signs south of Modale.
April 2005HailModale-Nickel size hail was accompanied by very heavy rain and strong winds south of Modale. There was a public report of 4.2 inches of rain with this storm which left "considerable" amounts of standing water yet that next morning.
October 2002Thunderstorm WindModale-Thunderstorm wind gusts of 55 to 60 mph accompanied hail up to 1.5 inches in diameter. The hail damaged soybean crops and killed 200 pheasants in a hunting preserve.
June 2001Tornado (F0)Modale-Harrison county fire and rescue reported a brief tornado touchdown near Modale. The tornado was from the same supercell which produced the reported tornado near Tekamah, Nebraska earlier that hour. This tornado also touched down in open country and caused no apparent damage.
October 2000HailModale-A hailstorm, with some stones approaching one inch in diameter, destroyed around 500 acres of soybean crops near Modale.
June 1999Flash FloodModale-Rainfall around 7 inches in Modale flooded county roads in the area.
July 1999Flash FloodModale-Two to 3.7 inches of rain in 40 minutes flooded county roads and town streets from Missouri Valley to northwest of Modale.
June 2014HailModale-no account filed
August 2011HailModale-no account filed
May 2005HailModale-no account filed
May 2004HailModale-no account filed
June 2004HailModale-no account filed
April 2002HailModale-no account filed
July 2002HailModale-no account filed
October 2002HailModale-no account filed
May 2001HailModale-no account filed
May 1999HailModale-no account filed
June 1996HailModale-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Harrison 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
California Junction4.3 miles8
Calhoun6.2 miles8
Mondamin6.3 miles8
Missouri Valley7.9 miles8
Magnolia8.9 miles8
Echo9.2 miles8
Findley9.4 miles8
Euclid9.6 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 ModaleAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q613911The 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 459158. 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.