Owasa, Iowa
9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1993. It stands in Jackson Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50126. The Survey maps it on the Owasa quadrangle. 34 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,083 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresOwasa fell from 43 to 34 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 | 43 | |
| 2020 | 34 | -9 (-21%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 9 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 Waterloo quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1955 USGS Waterloo quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1979 USGS Owasa quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Ames quadrangle1:100000
- 1993 USGS Ames quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
6 since 2014Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 6 fires within 5 miles of Owasa between 2014 and 2019, burning about 162 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 burning | 5 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 June 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 4.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | ELDORA FIRE AND RESCUE |
| 30 May 2017 | Debris and open burning | 3.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 3 May 2014 | Debris and open burning | 8.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 29 April 2018 | Debris and open burning | 45 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 26 April 2014 | Debris and open burning | 90 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 16 April 2019 | Debris and open burning | 12 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 11 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 11 workings within 5 miles of Owasa: 8 past producers, 3 producers. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eagle City Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Van Patter Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Bloome Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Butler Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Frericks Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Hardin City Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Janssen Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Klein Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Lyman Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Riekena Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
4 since 2000Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Owasa in 4 storm reports between 2000 and 2014: 2 tornado, 2 thunderstorm wind. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2014 | Tornado (EF1) | Owasa | $25,000 | Tornado formed 2 miles southwest of Owasa immediately hitting a farmstead destroying a grain bin and uprooting several trees. The tornado then travel across open farmland for the remainder of its path. The tornado was found and rated using high resolution satellite imagery. |
| August 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Owasa | $25,000 | A wind gust of 102 MPH was recorded at the Landfill northwest of Eldora. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Owasa | $3,000 | Law enforcement estimated winds near 60 MPH. |
| May 2000 | Tornado (F0) | Owasa | - | Brief touchdown in a field |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Berlin | 2.7 miles | 9 | |
| Hughs | 3.6 miles | 9 | |
| Eagle City | 4.2 miles | 9 | |
| Rough Woods Hill | 5.0 miles | 9 | |
| Iowa Falls Junction | 6.4 miles | 9 | |
| Robertson | 6.6 miles | 9 | |
| Iowa Falls | 6.6 miles | 9 | |
| Racine | 7.0 miles | 9 |
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 Owasa | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1926263 | 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 459973. 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.




