Swaledale, Iowa
9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Pleasant Valley Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50477. The Survey maps it on the Swaledale quadrangle. 144 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,152 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresSwaledale fell from 165 to 144 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 | 165 | |
| 2020 | 144 | -21 (-13%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
4 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
- 1972 USGS Swaledale quadrangle1:24000
- 1984 USGS Iowa Falls quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
1 since 2011Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Swaledale in 2011, burning about 5 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 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 March 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | 2967 MALLARD AVE, IA |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 10 workings within 5 miles of Swaledale: 9 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sheriff Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Swaledale Quarry and Pit | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Ingebretson Park | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
15 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Swaledale in 15 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 8 heavy rain, 4 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado, 1 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Swaledale | 2 hurt, $50,000 | Two semis were blown over between mile markers 185 and 186 on interstate 35. |
| June 1998 | Tornado (F2) | Swaledale | $125,000 | no account filed |
| December 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Swaledale | $50,000 | Public reported heavy damage to machine sheds and out buildings. |
| May 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Swaledale | $15,000 | The Cerro Gordo County dispatch relayed a public report of strong winds blowing shingles off of a roof between Interstate 35 and Swaledale. |
| September 2025 | Hail | Swaledale | - | Quarter sized hail reported from the public library. |
| August 2022 | Heavy Rain | Swaledale | - | A 24 hour rainfall total of 3.08 inches. |
| May 2020 | Heavy Rain | Swaledale | - | CoCoRaHS report of 2.06 inches of rain. Beginning and end time roughly estimated from radar. |
| September 2020 | Heavy Rain | Swaledale | - | A CoCoRaHS observer reported 2.04 inches of rain. |
| June 2020 | Heavy Rain | Swaledale | - | CoCoRaHS observer reported a 24 hour rainfall total of 2.54 inches. |
| October 2019 | Heavy Rain | Swaledale | - | CoCoRaHS observer recorded heavy rainfall of 2.31 inches over the past 24 hours. |
| June 2018 | Heavy Rain | Swaledale | - | CoCoRaHS observer recorded heavy rainfall of 3.05 inches. |
| September 2018 | Heavy Rain | Swaledale | - | CoCoRaHS observer recorded heavy rainfall of 3.45 inches over the last 24 hours. |
| May 2017 | Flash Flood | Swaledale | - | Storm chaser reported 2 feet of fast rushing water has completely washed out Indigo Ave 1 mile south of Cerro Gordo County road B60 in Pleasant Valley Township along the upper reaches of the West Ford Cedar River. Water is moving swiftly and white capping over the roadway. Rain and small hail ongoing at the time of the report as well. |
| September 2016 | Heavy Rain | Swaledale | - | CoCoRaHS observer in Swaledale recorded heavy rainfall of 2.4 inches over the last 24 hours. |
| May 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Swaledale | - | Measured at the Iowa Department of Transportation Road Weather Information Site southwest of Mason City on Interstate 35. |
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.
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 Swaledale | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2239844 | 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 462129. 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.



