Thompson, Iowa
7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in King Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50478. The Survey maps it on the Thompson quadrangle. 495 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,270 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresThompson fell from 502 to 495 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 | 502 | |
| 2020 | 495 | -7 (-1%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 7 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 Mason City quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Mason City quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Mason City quadrangle1:250000
- 1972 USGS Thompson quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Mason City quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
3 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 3 fires within 5 miles of Thompson between 2006 and 2012, 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 | 2 |
| Debris and open burning | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 July 2012 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 3 April 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 1 October 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 acres | 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 Thompson: 2 unknowns, 1 past producer. 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.
Storms near this place
37 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Thompson in 37 storm reports between 1994 and 2024: 18 hail, 14 thunderstorm wind, 2 funnel cloud, 2 heavy rain. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2008 | Tornado (EF1) | Thompson | $250,000 | Rain wrapped tornado. Tornado hit hog confinement building and destroyed it. A barn was also damaged. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thompson | $200,000 | Law enforcement reported a farmstead with 4 grain bins destroyed. Roof missing off shed and half of the structure destroyed. |
| July 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thompson | $30,000 | no account filed |
| July 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thompson | $25,000 | Numerous trees down from Thompson to Lake Mills to Scarville. |
| August 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thompson | $25,000 | no account filed |
| July 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thompson | $15,000 | no account filed |
| August 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thompson | $15,000 | no account filed |
| July 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thompson | $10,000 | no account filed |
| June 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thompson | $10,000 | no account filed |
| June 2001 | Hail | Thompson | $10,000 | no account filed |
| September 2001 | Hail | Thompson | $10,000 | no account filed |
| July 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thompson | $10,000 | no account filed |
| July 2015 | Hail | Thompson | $5,000 | Public report of golf ball sized hail relayed via the Winnebago County Sheriff. |
| April 2004 | Hail | Thompson | $5,000 | no account filed |
| April 2004 | Hail | Thompson | $5,000 | no account filed |
| June 2001 | Hail | Thompson | $5,000 | no account filed |
| July 1997 | Hail | Thompson | $5,000 | no account filed |
| August 1994 | Hail | Thompson | $5,000 | no account filed |
| May 2012 | Hail | Thompson | $3,000 | no account filed |
| May 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thompson | $3,000 | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Hail | Thompson | $3,000 | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thompson | $3,000 | no account filed |
| May 2003 | Hail | Thompson | $3,000 | no account filed |
| May 2003 | Hail | Thompson | $2,000 | no account filed |
| September 2001 | Hail | Thompson | $2,000 | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Hail | Thompson | $1,000 | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Hail | Thompson | $1,000 | no account filed |
| May 2000 | Hail | Thompson | $1,000 | no account filed |
| June 2024 | Heavy Rain | Thompson | - | Public report via social media of 5.1 inches of rain overnight. |
| June 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thompson | - | Wind gust report via a personal weather station. |
| July 2021 | Funnel Cloud | Thompson | - | Social media report of a funnel cloud north of Thompson. Time adjusted based on radar data. |
| September 2020 | Heavy Rain | Thompson | - | A personal weather station reported 4.57 inches of rain. |
| June 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thompson | - | Mesonet station recorded gust of 74 mph. |
| June 2018 | Funnel Cloud | Thompson | - | Public reported a funnel cloud along Highway 9 between Buffalo Center and Thompson. |
| June 2017 | Hail | Thompson | - | Trained spotter reported nickel sized hail. |
| July 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thompson | - | Trained spotter reported an evergreen tree uprooted in their yard. This is a delayed report and time estimated from radar. |
| May 2005 | Hail | Thompson | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amund (historical) | 7.1 miles | 7 | |
| Leland | 7.7 miles | 7 | |
| Vinje | 8.7 miles | 7 | |
| Buffalo Center | 9.2 miles | 7 | |
| Forest City | 10.4 miles | 7 | |
| Scarville | 10.7 miles | 7 | |
| Rake | 10.9 miles | 7 | |
| Ratna (historical) | 11.9 miles | 8 |
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 Thompson | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2165785 | 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 462216. 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.




