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.
Population over time
2 figuresThornton 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 422 | |
| 2020 | 400 | -22 (-5%) |
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 Thornton quadrangle1:24000
- 1984 USGS Iowa Falls quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
2 since 2017Regional 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/undetermined | 1 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 March 2017 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Iowa Wetland Management District | UNION HILLS WF MARCH 2017 |
| 12 December 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 acres | Iowa Wetland Management District | UNION HILLS WF |
Mines and quarries near this place
6 within 5 milesRegional 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 | 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 |
Storms near this place
20 since 1995Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thornton | 1 hurt, $30,000 | Law enforcement reported a semi-truck blown over by winds on Interstate 35. One individual was transported to the hospital. Time estimated from radar. |
| June 1998 | Tornado (F2) | Thornton | $50,000 | no account filed |
| June 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thornton | $25,000 | no account filed |
| August 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thornton | $15,000 | Law enforcement reported a tree downed onto a house in Thornton. Time and location estimated from radar. |
| July 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thornton | $15,000 | Lots of trees down, including one on fire. A few windows were also broken. |
| May 2003 | Hail | Thornton | $15,000 | no account filed |
| June 2002 | Hail | Thornton | $15,000 | no account filed |
| May 2003 | Hail | Thornton | $5,000 | no account filed |
| June 2002 | Hail | Thornton | $5,000 | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thornton | $5,000 | no account filed |
| October 2013 | Hail | Thornton | $3,000 | no account filed |
| August 2008 | Hail | Thornton | $2,000 | no account filed |
| April 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thornton | $1,000 | no account filed |
| June 1995 | Hail | Thornton | $1,000 | no account filed |
| May 2017 | Hail | Thornton | - | Trained spotter reported quarter sized hail. |
| July 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thornton | - | Trained spotter reported large trees downed from the winds. This is a delayed report and time estimated from radar. |
| July 2016 | Heavy Rain | Thornton | - | Public reported heavy rainfall of 2.00 inches along 150th st. Reported via social media and times estimated from radar. |
| August 2023 | Hail | Thornton | - | no account filed |
| June 2013 | Hail | Thornton | - | no account filed |
| June 2013 | Funnel Cloud | Thornton | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swaledale | 4.3 miles | 9 | |
| Meservey | 5.4 miles | 9 | |
| Hurley | 9.3 miles | 8 | |
| Burchinal | 10.0 miles | 7 | |
| Rockwell | 10.6 miles | 9 | |
| Ventura Heights | 12.8 miles | 7 | |
| Clear Lake | 13.3 miles | 7 | |
| Ventura | 13.5 miles | 7 |
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 Thornton | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2006316 | 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 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.



