Thor, Iowa
12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1923 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Norway Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50591. The Survey maps it on the Thor quadrangle. 181 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,138 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresThor fell from 186 to 181 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 | 186 | |
| 2020 | 181 | -5 (-3%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 12 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.
- 1923 USGS Fort Dodge quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1954 USGS Fort Dodge quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Fort Dodge quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Fort Dodge quadrangle1:250000
- 1979 USGS Thor quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1984 USGS Humboldt quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Thor: 1 unknown. 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.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown |
Storms near this place
18 since 2003Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Thor in 18 storm reports between 2003 and 2025: 7 hail, 6 thunderstorm wind, 3 funnel cloud, 2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thor | $100,000 | Trained spotter reported several large tree limbs and even a few trees snapped at the base throughout the town of Thor. One tree was roughly 18 inches in diameter and about 50 feet tall and snapped at the base. Some houses had trees that fell on their roof, unknown extent of damage at the time. Time was estimated from radar. |
| May 2017 | Hail | Thor | $50,000 | Public reported just smaller than baseball sized hail. This is a delayed report, and from social media. Many car windows broken at a school event. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thor | $50,000 | Emergency Manager reported 4 machine sheds damaged/destroyed. Time estimated from radar. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thor | $15,000 | Law Enforcement reported a large tree downed on top of a vehicle. |
| June 2008 | Tornado (EF0) | Thor | $10,000 | Spotter observed power lines or transformers blowing out. |
| May 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thor | $5,000 | Large tree limbs broken and blown 100 yards. |
| May 2012 | Hail | Thor | $5,000 | no account filed |
| April 2010 | Hail | Thor | $5,000 | no account filed |
| July 2010 | Hail | Thor | $3,000 | A trained spotter reported quarter size hail 5.5 miles west of Eagle Grove. |
| April 2010 | Hail | Thor | $3,000 | no account filed |
| August 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thor | $2,000 | Windows blown out by estimated winds of 60 MPH. |
| September 2025 | Hail | Thor | - | Quarter sized hail reported by trained spotter. |
| June 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thor | - | Trained spotter reported estimated wind gusts around 60 mph and that corn has been flattened. |
| May 2017 | Hail | Thor | - | Trained spotter reported quarter sized hail 6 miles east of Humboldt along Highway 3. |
| June 2010 | Funnel Cloud | Thor | - | Wedge funnel. |
| June 2010 | Funnel Cloud | Thor | - | Large funnel west of Thor visible during lightning strikes. |
| July 2003 | Tornado (F0) | Thor | - | Brief touchdown in a farm field. |
| June 2014 | Funnel Cloud | Thor | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dakota City | 8.2 miles | 11 | |
| Jones Siding | 8.4 miles | 11 | |
| Hardy | 8.5 miles | 8 | |
| Humboldt | 9.1 miles | 11 | |
| Renwick | 10.3 miles | 9 | |
| Arnold | 11.6 miles | 8 | |
| Rutland | 14.0 miles | 8 | |
| Livermore | 14.4 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 Thor | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2901477 | 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 462224. 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.
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.





