Paton, Iowa
9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1993. It stands in Paton Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50217. The Survey maps it on the Paton quadrangle. 221 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,102 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresPaton fell from 236 to 221 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 | 236 | |
| 2020 | 221 | -15 (-6%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 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 Fort Dodge quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Fort Dodge quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Fort Dodge quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Jefferson quadrangle1:62500
- 1985 USGS Carroll quadrangle1:100000
- 1986 USGS Paton quadrangle1:24000
- 1993 USGS Carroll quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
4 since 2008Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 4 fires within 5 miles of Paton between 2008 and 2011, burning about 48 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 | 4 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 April 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 12 April 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | 1536 130TH ST., IA |
| 11 April 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 10 April 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
2 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Paton: 2 past producers. None of them still produces. 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.
Storms near this place
21 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Paton in 21 storm reports between 1993 and 2024: 8 hail, 8 heavy rain, 3 thunderstorm wind, 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 1993 | Hail | Paton | $50,000 | no account filed |
| December 2021 | Tornado (EF2) | Paton | $25,000 | This tornado moved through both Greene and Webster Counties. The tornado developed southwest of Paton in Greene County and blew apart an old shed. It continued to strengthen and snapped several large utility poles along 110th Street west of U Avenue. The tornado then exited the county into Webster County north of Paton. |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Paton | $15,000 | no account filed |
| April 2001 | Tornado (F0) | Paton | $10,000 | Brief touchdown with some minor damage in Paton. |
| September 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Paton | $10,000 | no account filed |
| April 2013 | Hail | Paton | $3,000 | no account filed |
| May 2001 | Hail | Paton | $3,000 | no account filed |
| August 2004 | Hail | Paton | $2,000 | no account filed |
| June 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Paton | $1,000 | A large tree was down across a road in town. |
| June 2024 | Heavy Rain | Paton | - | Delayed report of 5 inches of rainfall that occurred on June 4th. |
| August 2018 | Heavy Rain | Paton | - | Trained spotter reported heavy rainfall of 4.50 inches. |
| August 2018 | Heavy Rain | Paton | - | Trained spotter reported heavy rainfall of 3.75 inches. |
| June 2018 | Heavy Rain | Paton | - | Trained spotter reported heavy rainfall of 2.00 inches. |
| September 2018 | Heavy Rain | Paton | - | Trained spotter reported heavy rainfall of 2.00 inches over the last 24 hours. |
| July 2017 | Hail | Paton | - | Trained spotter reported quarter sized hail. |
| April 2016 | Heavy Rain | Paton | - | Trained spotter reported heavy rainfall of 2 inches. |
| September 2016 | Heavy Rain | Paton | - | Trained spotter reported heavy rainfall of 2.50 inches from storms last night. |
| August 2015 | Heavy Rain | Paton | - | Trained spotter reported heavy rainfall of 4.00 inches so far today. |
| April 2013 | Hail | Paton | - | no account filed |
| August 2004 | Hail | Paton | - | no account filed |
| May 2001 | Hail | Paton | - | 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.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dana | 4.0 miles | 11 | |
| Gravel Pit | 6.8 miles | 9 | |
| Grand Junction | 9.2 miles | 11 | |
| Churdan | 11.6 miles | 9 | |
| Farlin | 11.9 miles | 9 | |
| Jefferson | 12.2 miles | 9 | |
| Adaza | 12.9 miles | 9 | |
| Winkelmans | 14.1 miles | 10 |
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 Paton | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1927458 | 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 460037. 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.






