Ocheyedan, Iowa
7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Ocheyedan Township. It lies in ZIP code area 51354. It stands on Ocheyedan Mound. The Survey maps it on the Ocheyedan quadrangle. 439 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,575 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresOcheyedan fell from 490 to 439 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 490 | |
| 2020 | 439 | -51 (-10%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
4 surveys from 7 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1954 USGS Fairmont quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Fairmont quadrangle1:250000
- 1972 USGS Ocheyedan quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Iowa Great Lakes quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
2 since 2010Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Ocheyedan between 2010 and 2020, burning about 35 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/undetermined | 1 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 April 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 20 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 28 April 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | VINE AND 180TH ST., IOWA |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 15 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 15 workings within 5 miles of Ocheyedan: 10 past producers, 5 producers. 5 still produce. 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kout Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Loaf Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Maudlin Const Co | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Maudlin Const Co | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Molendorp Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Ocheyedan | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Rehms-Stewart, Inc. | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Thomas Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Thomas Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
23 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Ocheyedan in 23 storm reports between 1993 and 2021: 12 hail, 7 thunderstorm wind, 4 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ocheyedan | $100,000 | Thunderstorm winds destroyed an airplane hangar, a small airplane in the hangar, and a machine shed. |
| June 2001 | Hail | Ocheyedan | $100,000 | no account filed |
| June 2001 | Hail | Ocheyedan | $100,000 | no account filed |
| May 1993 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ocheyedan | $50,000 | Numerous thunderstorms developed in the strong, moist southerly flow ahead of an approaching cold front. Many of them produced pea to marble-size hail and gusty winds of 40 to 50 MPH. One of the cells became severe and produced winds strong enough to take down power lines and one utility pole east of Akron. During the late evening hours, the thunderstorms weakened and collapsed. As the tops collapsed, high winds affected Osceola County. Trees were toppled and power lines downed. Several out buildings were toppled as well. A machine shed, on a farmstead west of May City, was picked up and hurled 100 feet from its foundation. The building was destroyed. Some minor damage was also done to the farmhouse as well. Trees and power lines were also downed on a farmstead east of Ocheyedan. A machine shed was also destroyed by high winds there. |
| August 2021 | Tornado (EF0) | Ocheyedan | $10,000 | The tornado spun up around one-half mile west of Ocheyedan south of 160th Street. The tornado traveled south southeast along Tanager Avenue where it damaged a few trees along the road. After a little over a mile, the path shifted to the southeast. Just before the tornado dissipated near the intersection of 180th Street and Tyler Avenue, a small portion of a chicken barn roof was damaged. The average path width was 50 yards, defined by drone video. Property damage costs are a rough estimate. |
| June 1994 | Hail | Ocheyedan | $5,000 | no account filed |
| August 2021 | Tornado (EFU) | Ocheyedan | - | The tornado began just east of Starling Avenue north of 140th Street, traveling south southeast across open fields before lifting just west of the Devil's Ridge Wildlife Management Area south of 140th Street. The path was defined on Sentinel satellite imagery through crops. The average path width was 40 yards. |
| May 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ocheyedan | - | Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including several branches blown down. |
| June 2010 | Tornado (EF0) | Ocheyedan | - | A brief tornado caused no reported damage. |
| September 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ocheyedan | - | Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including several trees blown down. |
| August 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ocheyedan | - | Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including several large branches blown down. |
| June 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ocheyedan | - | Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including 2 foot diameter trees blown down. |
| June 2001 | Tornado (F0) | Ocheyedan | - | A brief tornado caused no reported damage or injuries. |
| June 2014 | Hail | Ocheyedan | - | no account filed |
| August 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ocheyedan | - | no account filed |
| September 2005 | Hail | Ocheyedan | - | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Hail | Ocheyedan | - | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Hail | Ocheyedan | - | no account filed |
| June 2004 | Hail | Ocheyedan | - | no account filed |
| July 2004 | Hail | Ocheyedan | - | no account filed |
| June 2004 | Hail | Ocheyedan | - | no account filed |
| August 2002 | Hail | Ocheyedan | - | no account filed |
| June 2001 | Hail | Ocheyedan | - | no account filed |
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.
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 Ocheyedan | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1927689 | The 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 459794. 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.



