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Rockwell City, Iowa

8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1993. It stands in Twin Lakes Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50579. The Survey maps it on the Rockwell City quadrangle. 2,240 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,230 feet above sea level.

Research this city

Rockwell City within Calhoun County

On record in Rockwell City

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 3 records

Population over time

2 figures

Rockwell City grew from 1,709 to 2,240 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
20101,709
20202,240+531 (+31%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 8 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

13 since 2010

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 13 fires within 5 miles of Rockwell City between 2010 and 2019, burning about 120 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/undetermined5
Smoking3
Debris and open burning3
Equipment and vehicle use2

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
27 September 2012Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
7 June 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
15 June 2016Smokingunder an acreIowa Department of Natural ResourcesROCKWELL CITY FIRE DEPT
22 May 2016Smokingunder an acreIowa Department of Natural ResourcesROCKWELL CITY FIRE DEPT
26 April 2019Debris and open burning25 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
20 April 2019Smokingunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
16 April 2019Debris and open burning1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
6 March 2017Debris and open burning2.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Calhoun County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Rockwell City: 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.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Drennan PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Tapps PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Calhoun County

Storms near this place

60 of 79 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Rockwell City in 79 storm reports between 1994 and 2024: 30 hail, 25 thunderstorm wind, 12 heavy rain, 4 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
June 2014HailRockwell City$500,000no account filed
July 2010Flash FloodRockwell City$250,000Highway 4 south of Rockwell City is closed due to flooding. Humpty Dumpty Park in Rockwell City is flooded. Water reported in numerous basements in Manson.
June 2014HailRockwell City$250,000no account filed
June 2014HailRockwell City$150,000Windshields broken in cars across Rockwell City.
June 1996Flash FloodRockwell City$150,000no account filed
April 1998FloodRockwell City$50,000no account filed
June 1998FloodRockwell City$50,000no account filed
June 1996FloodRockwell City$30,000no account filed
June 2014HailRockwell City$25,000no account filed
May 2021LightningRockwell City$20,000Emergency management reported a lightning strike to the the county court house, resulting in over 20,000 dollars in damage.
June 2015Thunderstorm WindRockwell City$20,000Multiple large tree branches down in and around Rockwell City.
June 2014HailRockwell City$20,000no account filed
July 2016Thunderstorm WindRockwell City$15,000Trained spotter reported numerous large branches, 3 to 4 inches in diameter, down in town along with a couple of trees, 9 to 12 inches in diameter, down. Also reported power lines down, but unknown if the cause were the downed trees. Delayed report, time radar estimated.
September 2016Flash FloodRockwell City$15,000Local law enforcement reported a car stalled/stranded after driving through flooded roads. Delayed report.
August 2009HailRockwell City$15,000no account filed
May 1998HailRockwell City$10,000Tree damage caused by the hail
June 2014HailRockwell City$10,000no account filed
July 2003HailRockwell City$10,000no account filed
May 1998HailRockwell City$10,000no account filed
June 1997Thunderstorm WindRockwell City$10,000no account filed
June 1996FloodRockwell City$10,000no account filed
March 2017Thunderstorm WindRockwell City$5,000Trained spotter reported two inch branches blown over along with tine blown off metal buildings and doors blown off of a grain elevator.
July 2012Thunderstorm WindRockwell City$5,000Branches and power lines down in the area.
May 1994HailRockwell City$5,000A weak cold front sagged southeast into Iowa during the afternoon of the 4th. The dynamics were not very strong with the system, however the wind shear was sufficient enough to produce severe weather. Low level winds were from the south-southeast with the middle and upper level flow fairly strong northwest. Thunderstorms erupted during the afternoon. The early storms produced a tornado over Emmet County. The tornado tracked across several miles of open country before lifting north of Armstrong. No significant damage was reported as the track was over bare ground. The main severe weather associated with the storms was hail. Although the storms did produce gusty winds in the 40 to 50 mph range, no severe winds were reported. Golf ball-size hail fell north of Armstrong from the storm that produced the tornado. Other storms formed in a line extending southwest from the tornadic cell. Golf ball-size hail was also reported in Clay County at Royal. As the storms progressed further southeast, the hail size diminished but not the amount. What began as marble-size hail at Sioux Rapids in Buena Vista County grew to over an inch in diameter. The hail fell for about a half hour, accumulating to a depth of two to four inches. Hail accumulated to a depth of six inches in the town of Royal, giving the town a winter like appearance. Pea-size hail covered the ground north of Algona and also in the northwest corner of Calhoun County. In Calhoun County, southwest of Rockwell City, dime-size hail accumulated to a depth of one inch. By the late afternoon hours, the hail size had diminished to one-half inch or less. The storms tracked as far southeast as central Iowa before dissipating.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindRockwell City$5,000no account filed
September 2005Thunderstorm WindRockwell City$5,000no account filed
August 2010Thunderstorm WindRockwell City$3,000Two large trees down in town.
May 2001HailRockwell City$3,000no account filed
May 2001HailRockwell City$3,000no account filed
July 1998Thunderstorm WindRockwell City$3,000no account filed
August 2010HailRockwell City$2,000Quarter size hail was reported at the police station.
March 2006Thunderstorm WindRockwell City$2,000no account filed
August 2004Thunderstorm WindRockwell City$2,000no account filed
May 2001HailRockwell City$2,000no account filed
June 1999Thunderstorm WindRockwell City$2,000no account filed
June 1998Thunderstorm WindRockwell City$2,000no account filed
September 2018Thunderstorm WindRockwell City$1,000Trained spotter reported up to 10 inch diameter tree branches down.
August 2016Thunderstorm WindRockwell City$1,000Trained spotter reported several 3 to 5 inch diameter tree branches down throughout Rockwell City. Delayed report and time estimated from radar.
August 2008HailRockwell City$1,000Hail was dime to quarter size along with heavy rain.
March 2005HailRockwell City$1,000no account filed
May 1999HailRockwell City$1,000no account filed
May 1999HailRockwell City$1,000no account filed
June 1998Thunderstorm WindRockwell City$1,000no account filed
June 1998Thunderstorm WindRockwell City$1,000no account filed
May 1999HailRockwell City$500no account filed
June 1998HailRockwell City$200no account filed
May 2024HailRockwell City-Spotter submitted photo of quarter sized hail in Rockwell City. Time of occurrence was estimated from radar.
May 2024Thunderstorm WindRockwell City-Semi blown over and trees down near Rockwell City.
March 2020HailRockwell City-Emergency management reported quarter-sized hail.
March 2020HailRockwell City-Trained spotter reported ping pong ball sized hail.
July 2020Funnel CloudRockwell City-Law enforcement reported a brief funnel halfway to the ground before dissipating.
August 2020Thunderstorm WindRockwell City-A trained spotter reported 8 inch tree limbs down, power lines down, and trees down all over town.
August 2020Thunderstorm WindRockwell City-No LSRs were transmitted from within the county during the August 10 derecho event. However, it is estimated by the NWS that areas of the county experienced severe winds and associated damage based on surrounding county LSRs and other available information.
July 2019Heavy RainRockwell City-Coop observer recorded heavy rainfall of 2.06 inches over the last 24 hours.
August 2018Heavy RainRockwell City-Coop observer recorded heavy rainfall of 2.47 inches over the last 24 hours.
June 2018HailRockwell City-Trained spotter reported nickel sized hail. Time estimated from radar.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindRockwell City-Trained spotter reported approximately 5 inch diameter tree branches down.
September 2018Thunderstorm WindRockwell City-Rockwell City Iowa RWIS station recorded 61 mph wind gusts.
March 2017Thunderstorm WindRockwell City-Trained spotter reported wind gusts to 60 mph along with nickel sized hail.
April 2017Heavy RainRockwell City-Coop observer report of 1.22 inches of rain over the past 24 hours and 1.91 inches over the past 48 hours.

Every storm recorded in Calhoun 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
Stimsons (historical)3.3 miles8
Piper4.7 miles8
Sherwood5.5 miles8
Rands5.7 miles8
Richard6.0 miles8
Lavinia6.0 miles8
Twin Lakes6.2 miles8
Jolley7.3 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 Rockwell CityAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1925666The 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 460754. 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.