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Tama, Iowa

8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Tama Township. It lies in ZIP code area 52339. It stands on Deer Creek. The Survey maps it on the Tama quadrangle. 3,130 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 840 feet above sea level.

Research this city

Tama within Tama County

On record in Tama

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 2 records

Population over time

2 figures

Tama grew from 2,877 to 3,130 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
20102,877
20203,130+253 (+9%)

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

291 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 291 fires within 5 miles of Tama between 1993 and 2020, burning about 3,222 acres in total. None started naturally. 42 were 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
Debris and open burning120
Missing data/not specified/undetermined107
Arson/incendiarism42
Equipment and vehicle use6
Smoking4
Misuse of fire by a minor4
Recreation and ceremony3
Fireworks3
Power generation/transmission/distribution2

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
9 September 2013Smokingunder an acreIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
4 September 1999Power generation/transmission/distribution1.0 acresSac and Fox AgencyTRANSFORM
15 September 2010Debris and open burningunder an acreSac and Fox AgencyDAVENPORT
3 August 2019Fireworks3.0 acresSac and Fox Agency163 CIRCLE
25 August 2011Debris and open burningunder an acreSac and Fox AgencyLINCOLN
2 August 2013Smoking3.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
19 August 2013Debris and open burningunder an acreSac and Fox Agency1340 DOG
5 July 2017Fireworksunder an acreSac and Fox Agency120 BATTLEGROUND

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Tama County

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Tama: 1 producer. All of them still produce. 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
Manatt's Sand and Gravel, Inc.Sand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Tama County

Storms near this place

41 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Tama in 41 storm reports between 1993 and 2024: 26 thunderstorm wind, 8 hail, 3 tornado, 3 flood. The reports record 25 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
August 1993Thunderstorm WindTama25 hurt, $5,000no account filed
June 1994Thunderstorm WindTama$500,000no account filed
June 1998Thunderstorm WindTama$200,000no account filed
June 1998FloodTama$100,000no account filed
June 2007Thunderstorm WindTama$50,000no account filed
June 1994HailTama$50,000no account filed
June 2009Thunderstorm WindTama$25,000Widespread tree damage was reported.
June 1998Thunderstorm WindTama$20,000no account filed
July 2001Thunderstorm WindTama$15,000no account filed
May 1998Thunderstorm WindTama$15,000no account filed
July 2015Thunderstorm WindTama$10,000A large tree branch was down on a power line at the Meskwaki Settlement.
June 2009Thunderstorm WindTama$10,000Large 12 to 14 inch diameter tree down. Six inch diameter limbs down around town.
August 2009FloodTama$10,000Highway E49 had water over the road near H Ave.
August 2009FloodTama$10,000Flooding was reported near Battleground Rd and Meskwaki Road.
May 2003HailTama$10,000no account filed
June 2003Thunderstorm WindTama$10,000no account filed
June 2003Thunderstorm WindTama$10,000no account filed
July 2001Thunderstorm WindTama$10,000no account filed
July 1999Thunderstorm WindTama$10,000no account filed
August 2010Thunderstorm WindTama$5,000Trees and power lines were down in Tama and Toledo.
June 2005Thunderstorm WindTama$5,000no account filed
August 2004Thunderstorm WindTama$5,000no account filed
May 2002HailTama$5,000no account filed
October 1998HailTama$5,000no account filed
May 1996Thunderstorm WindTama$5,000no account filed
June 2002HailTama$3,000no account filed
May 2014Thunderstorm WindTama$2,000Wind speed was measured by a home weather station.
May 2011Thunderstorm WindTama$2,000no account filed
June 2010Thunderstorm WindTama$2,000no account filed
June 1998Thunderstorm WindTama$2,000no account filed
June 2008Thunderstorm WindTama$1,000Report received from the Tama RWIS site.
July 2006Tornado (F0)Tama$1,000Tornado touched down briefly in an open area.
June 2010HailTama$1,000no account filed
June 2005Thunderstorm WindTama$1,000no account filed
May 2024Flash FloodTama-Water running over roads and vehicles stranded in flood waters across portions of the Meskwaki Nation Settlement including Battleground Rd near the PowWow Grounds, Meskwaki Rd at Battleground Rd and G Ave South. Reported by the Meskwaki Nation Police Department via social media.
July 2023Thunderstorm WindTama-Trees reported down in Tama and Toledo.
July 2017Thunderstorm WindTama-Media reported a tree down on the golf course and other smaller limbs down around town.
June 2002Tornado (F0)Tama-Brief spinup tornado
July 2023HailTama-no account filed
June 2006HailTama-no account filed
August 1998Tornado (F0)Tama-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Tama 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
Toledo2.0 miles8
Mesquakie Indian Settlement3.7 miles8
Gladstone4.2 miles8
Long Point5.1 miles8
Potter5.2 miles8
Helena6.3 miles8
Haven7.3 miles8
Montour7.4 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 TamaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1925254The 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 462174. 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.