BlockBefore

Thornton, Iowa

9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Grimes Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50479. It stands on Flay Creek. The Survey maps it on the Thornton quadrangle. 400 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,188 feet above sea level.

Thornton within Cerro Gordo County

Population over time

2 figures

Thornton fell from 422 to 400 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
2010422
2020400-22 (-5%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

4 surveys from 9 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

2 since 2017

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Thornton between 2017 and 2020, burning about 30 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/undetermined1
Recreation and ceremony1

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
17 March 2017Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreIowa Wetland Management DistrictUNION HILLS WF MARCH 2017
12 December 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined30 acresIowa Wetland Management DistrictUNION HILLS WF

Every fire recorded in Cerro Gordo County

Mines and quarries near this place

6 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of Thornton: 5 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Sheriff PitSand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Swaledale Quarry and PitStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Ingebretson ParkSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Cerro Gordo County

Storms near this place

20 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Thornton in 20 storm reports between 1995 and 2023: 10 hail, 7 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado, 1 funnel cloud. The reports record 1 injury. 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 2018Thunderstorm WindThornton1 hurt, $30,000Law enforcement reported a semi-truck blown over by winds on Interstate 35. One individual was transported to the hospital. Time estimated from radar.
June 1998Tornado (F2)Thornton$50,000no account filed
June 1999Thunderstorm WindThornton$25,000no account filed
August 2018Thunderstorm WindThornton$15,000Law enforcement reported a tree downed onto a house in Thornton. Time and location estimated from radar.
July 2012Thunderstorm WindThornton$15,000Lots of trees down, including one on fire. A few windows were also broken.
May 2003HailThornton$15,000no account filed
June 2002HailThornton$15,000no account filed
May 2003HailThornton$5,000no account filed
June 2002HailThornton$5,000no account filed
June 1998Thunderstorm WindThornton$5,000no account filed
October 2013HailThornton$3,000no account filed
August 2008HailThornton$2,000no account filed
April 2001Thunderstorm WindThornton$1,000no account filed
June 1995HailThornton$1,000no account filed
May 2017HailThornton-Trained spotter reported quarter sized hail.
July 2017Thunderstorm WindThornton-Trained spotter reported large trees downed from the winds. This is a delayed report and time estimated from radar.
July 2016Heavy RainThornton-Public reported heavy rainfall of 2.00 inches along 150th st. Reported via social media and times estimated from radar.
August 2023HailThornton-no account filed
June 2013HailThornton-no account filed
June 2013Funnel CloudThornton-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Cerro Gordo 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
Swaledale4.3 miles9
Meservey5.4 miles9
Hurley9.3 miles8
Burchinal10.0 miles7
Rockwell10.6 miles9
Ventura Heights12.8 miles7
Clear Lake13.3 miles7
Ventura13.5 miles7

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 ThorntonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2006316The 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 462227. 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.