Roland, Iowa
15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1912 and the latest in 1993. It stands in Howard Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50236. The Survey maps it on the Story City quadrangle. 1,362 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,024 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresRoland grew from 1,284 to 1,362 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 | 1,284 | |
| 2020 | 1,362 | +78 (+6%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 15 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.
- 1912 USGS Ames quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1914 USGS Ames quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1954 USGS Waterloo quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1955 USGS Waterloo quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1975 USGS Story City quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Ames quadrangle1:100000
- 1993 USGS Ames quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
19 since 2011Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 19 fires within 5 miles of Roland between 2011 and 2020, burning about 31 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 | 16 |
| Debris and open burning | 3 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 September 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 30 September 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 24 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 19 July 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 15 July 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 8 June 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 17 May 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 17 May 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
3 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Roland: 3 past producers. None of them still produces. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Twedt-County Line Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
44 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Roland in 44 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 17 hail, 17 thunderstorm wind, 4 heavy rain, 3 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 2005 | Tornado (F1) | Roland | $580,000 | Tornado developed in Story County and moved into Hamilton County. |
| April 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Roland | $50,000 | Emergency manager reported semi blown over along I-35 at mile marker 119. |
| June 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Roland | $50,000 | A grain bin was destroyed along with several large tree limbs down. |
| June 1994 | Tornado (F1) | Roland | $50,000 | no account filed |
| May 2017 | Lightning | Roland | $25,000 | Trained spotter reported a lightning strike that hit a tree, resulting in the tree falling onto and damaging the house. |
| June 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Roland | $25,000 | Storm chaser reported lots of large tree limbs down, some large trees downed in town, a tree on a house, and power lines downed. This is a delayed report and via social media. |
| April 2014 | Hail | Roland | $25,000 | no account filed |
| April 2014 | Hail | Roland | $20,000 | no account filed |
| April 2014 | Hail | Roland | $20,000 | no account filed |
| August 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Roland | $20,000 | no account filed |
| July 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Roland | $15,000 | The emergency manager estimates winds of 70 MPH. Tree damage throughout Roland with many large tree branches 6 to 12 inches in diameter down and some trees down as well. |
| July 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Roland | $15,000 | The emergency manager reported a large grain bin damaged. It was dented in toward the top. A barn was damaged as well. |
| April 2014 | Hail | Roland | $15,000 | no account filed |
| May 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Roland | $10,000 | The top of a tree that was two feet in diameter was snapped off in the town of Roland. |
| July 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Roland | $10,000 | Sixty MPH winds along with pea size hail were reported. There was a secondary report of wind damage in the Gilbert area. |
| July 2008 | Heavy Rain | Roland | $10,000 | Storm total for the day was 4.73 inches. |
| March 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Roland | $10,000 | no account filed |
| August 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Roland | $10,000 | no account filed |
| September 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Roland | $5,000 | Emergency manager reported a 10 to 12 inch tree branch down on a power line. Also tree debris across a 3 to 4 block swath on the north side of town. |
| April 2014 | Hail | Roland | $5,000 | Report via social media through broadcast media. |
| June 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Roland | $5,000 | Eight inch diameter tree broken and two six inch diameter branched down. Many smaller branches in the yard. |
| June 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Roland | $5,000 | A 3 foot diameter tree was down across the road. |
| September 1994 | Hail | Roland | $5,000 | A strong cold front moved southeast into Iowa in conjunction with strong upper level system. The low level flow had been southerly for several days, transporting moisture north into the central United States. Dew point temperatures had risen into the lower 60s in advance of the cold front. These dew point temperatures combined with ambient air temperatures in the middle 80s helped create enough instability to fire up strong thunderstorms. The storms fired in two areas. The initial storms formed in northwest Iowa and tracked across the north-central into the central counties. A second area of storms developed during the later afternoon hours over the west-central counties. These also tracked east. Most of the storms produced winds of 35 to 50 mph and at least pea- to marble-size hail. The main severe weather associated with the storms was hail. As the initial storms moved through story county, quarter-size hail covered the ground and destroyed several fields of soybeans in Milford Township. Other reports of hail from three-quarters to one inch in diameter were received from northwest into central Iowa. During the late afternoon hours a collision of two outflow boundaries occurred over Boone and Story Counties. These were visible on WSR-88D data. The first boundary sagged south-southwest from the convection over north-central Iowa. The second arched north-northeast to south-southwest from the convection in west-central Iowa. Thunderstorms fired up quickly around 1700 CST over Boone and Story Counties. Quarter-size hail fell in Story County at both Story City and Roland. The main hail fell from the southeast edge of Story City eastward. Reports over the north sections of Story City indicated hail about the size of knitting needle ends. One of the boundaries were set off by thunderstorms to the north. Those storms dropped hail the size of quarters at Webster City in Hamilton County. The storms produced very heavy rainfall in parts of northwest and central Iowa. A few area received over three inches of rain, however no significant flooding occurred due to the dry antecedent conditions. The greatest rainfall reported was in Milford Township of Story County, where three and one-half inches of rain fell in five hours time. |
| July 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Roland | $3,000 | Six inch tree branch down in Roland with several other branches of three to six inch diameter downed. |
| August 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Roland | $3,000 | no account filed |
| September 2003 | Hail | Roland | $2,000 | no account filed |
| April 2014 | Hail | Roland | $1,000 | no account filed |
| September 2013 | Hail | Roland | $1,000 | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Roland | $1,000 | no account filed |
| May 2025 | Funnel Cloud | Roland | - | Public report of a brief funnel cloud a little east of Roland. Did not extend far below the cloud base. |
| July 2024 | Heavy Rain | Roland | - | A report of 3.5 inches of rain storm total. |
| July 2020 | Hail | Roland | - | A public report via social media of golf ball sized hail. |
| July 2020 | Hail | Roland | - | Emergency manager relayed a report of tennis ball sized hail at the intersection of 620th ave and 120th st in Story County. |
| July 2020 | Hail | Roland | - | KCCI relayed a report of tennis ball sized hail. |
| July 2020 | Hail | Roland | - | Emergency manager reported nickel to quarter sized hail. |
| May 2019 | Funnel Cloud | Roland | - | Law enforcement reported several spotter reports of funnel clouds in the Roland area. |
| July 2018 | Tornado (EF0) | Roland | - | Weak tornado developed just northeast of Roland and moved east northeast in rural agricultural fields. Only damage was to crops. Tornado path was obtained via high resolution satellite imagery. |
| August 2015 | Heavy Rain | Roland | - | Public reported heavy rainfall total of 3.80 inches over the last 24 hours. |
| August 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Roland | - | Wind gust estimated at 60 MPH. |
| August 2014 | Heavy Rain | Roland | - | Rainfall of 1.30 was measured in the past 24 hours. |
| April 2014 | Hail | Roland | - | no account filed |
| May 2013 | Hail | Roland | - | no account filed |
| May 2013 | Hail | Roland | - | no account filed |
| April 2002 | Hail | Roland | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Story City | 5.2 miles | 15 | |
| McCallsburg | 6.2 miles | 9 | |
| Fernald | 8.7 miles | 9 | |
| Gilbert | 8.8 miles | 16 | |
| Bloomington | 8.9 miles | 16 | |
| Homestead Colony | 8.9 miles | 16 | |
| Nevada | 10.2 miles | 9 | |
| Zearing | 10.9 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 Roland | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1925777 | 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 460769. 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.






