BlockBefore

Story City, Iowa

15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1912 and the latest in 1993. It stands in Lafayette Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50248. The Survey maps it on the Story City quadrangle. 3,352 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,001 feet above sea level.

Research this city

Story City within Story County

On record in Story 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

Story City fell from 3,431 to 3,352 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
20103,431
20203,352-79 (-2%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 15 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

25 since 2011

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 25 fires within 5 miles of Story City between 2011 and 2020, burning about 29 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/undetermined21
Debris and open burning4

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
24 July 2012Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
19 July 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
8 June 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
9 May 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
7 May 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
17 May 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
13 May 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
10 May 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resources16117 550TH AVE, GILBERT, IA

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Story County

Mines and quarries near this place

7 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Story City: 6 past producers, 1 producer. 1 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Twedt-County Line QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Henderson PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Mortveidt PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Teig PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Story County

Storms near this place

60 of 83 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Story City in 83 storm reports between 1994 and 2024: 30 thunderstorm wind, 26 hail, 11 heavy rain, 5 flash flood. The reports record 2 injuries. 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
April 1999Thunderstorm WindStory City1 hurt, $40,000no account filed
August 2003Thunderstorm WindStory City1 hurt, $37,000no account filed
June 1996Flash FloodStory City$1,500,000no account filed
August 2010Flash FloodStory City$500,000Story City police reported widespread flooding throughout Story City. Had multiple reports of basement flooding with water backing up into them.
March 2019FloodStory City$200,000Numerous secondary roads closed in Story County due to flooding. The EM also reported R77 closed due to flooding south of the town of Roland at 170th.
April 2018Thunderstorm WindStory City$200,000Emergency manager reported that 130th Street from Highway 69 to 550th Street blocked due to power poles and lines down.
April 2018Thunderstorm WindStory City$200,000Emergency manager reported significant damage to 2 buildings and a tree blown down near a house. A semi-trailer was blown over at a warehouse.
August 2003Thunderstorm WindStory City$150,000no account filed
August 2015FloodStory City$50,000Story County Emergency Manager reported water over Forest Ave between Broad St and 8th St, and flooding in Story City due to the rising South Skunk River. Flooding and standing water was present across much of northern Story County as well.
November 2005Tornado (F0)Story City$50,000Tornado was on the ground briefly southwest of Story City.
April 2014HailStory City$50,000no account filed
May 2000Thunderstorm WindStory City$50,000no account filed
June 1998Thunderstorm WindStory City$50,000no account filed
May 2000Thunderstorm WindStory City$30,000no account filed
June 2014Thunderstorm WindStory City$25,000Trees and large limbs broken across town.
June 2014Thunderstorm WindStory City$25,000Wind gusts were estimated to be 65 to 75 MPH.
August 2010Flash FloodStory City$25,000Broad Street was closed at Forest Ave in Story City due to water running over the road.
April 2014HailStory City$25,000no account filed
June 2008Flash FloodStory City$25,000no account filed
August 2003Thunderstorm WindStory City$25,000no account filed
June 2001HailStory City$25,000no account filed
May 1998Thunderstorm WindStory City$25,000no account filed
April 2002HailStory City$20,000no account filed
June 2013Thunderstorm WindStory City$15,000Damage to a house in Story City. The sunroom blew off and over the house, then landed in a yard across the street.
April 2014HailStory City$15,000no account filed
July 2013Thunderstorm WindStory City$10,000Tree limbs of 6 to 12 inches and power lines down in parts of town. Also dime to penny sized hail.
April 2014HailStory City$10,000no account filed
March 2006Thunderstorm WindStory City$10,000no account filed
September 2006Thunderstorm WindStory City$10,000no account filed
June 2004HailStory City$10,000no account filed
April 2001Thunderstorm WindStory City$10,000no account filed
April 2018Thunderstorm WindStory City$5,000Emergency manager reported roof damage.
July 2009Thunderstorm WindStory City$5,000One foot diameter tree limbs were down, and the storm took out power lines leaving northwest Story City without power.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindStory City$5,000Power lines reported down.
September 1994HailStory City$5,000A 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.
August 2004Thunderstorm WindStory City$5,000no account filed
August 2004Thunderstorm WindStory City$5,000no account filed
August 2003Thunderstorm WindStory City$5,000no account filed
June 2001HailStory City$5,000no account filed
April 2014HailStory City$3,000no account filed
April 2014HailStory City$3,000no account filed
March 2006Thunderstorm WindStory City$3,000no account filed
July 2013Thunderstorm WindStory City$2,000Report was received via the chat server.
April 2014HailStory City$2,000no account filed
June 2005Thunderstorm WindStory City$2,000no account filed
June 2001HailStory City$2,000no account filed
June 1999Tornado (F1)Story City$2,000no account filed
July 2016Thunderstorm WindStory City$1,000Emergency Manager reported a few 3 to 4 inch tree branches down. Report relayed from Law Enforcement.
July 2012Thunderstorm WindStory City$1,000Emergency Manager estimated winds of 60 MPH.
July 2012Thunderstorm WindStory City$1,000Two to three inch diameter trees down.
June 2008Flash FloodStory City$1,000Flooding of a Creek in town prompted moving of several cars from area businesses.
April 2014HailStory City$1,000no account filed
July 2012HailStory City$1,000no account filed
May 1999HailStory City$1,000no account filed
May 1999HailStory City$1,000no account filed
July 2024Heavy RainStory City-A report of 4 inches of rain on the south side of Story City.
May 2023HailStory City-Story county law enforcement reports nickel to quarter sized hail is falling.
June 2022Heavy RainStory City-A six hour rain total of 3.60 inches.
June 2022Heavy RainStory City-A nine hour rain total of 4.60 inches.
August 2021Thunderstorm WindStory City-Large tree limbs broken and heavy wood pen shifted. Time estimated by radar.

Every storm recorded in Story 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
Roland5.2 miles15
Gilbert6.2 miles16
Homestead Colony7.7 miles16
Zenorsville8.5 miles16
Bloomington9.1 miles16
Ames10.6 miles16
McCallsburg11.2 miles9
Ontario11.4 miles16

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 Story CityAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1833978The 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 462019. 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.