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Thurman, Iowa

9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1993. It stands in Scott Township. It lies in ZIP code area 51654. It stands on Skunk Creek. The Survey maps it on the Tabor SW quadrangle. 167 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 978 feet above sea level.

Thurman within Fremont County

On record in Thurman

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 1 record

Population over time

2 figures

Thurman fell from 229 to 167 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
2010229
2020167-62 (-27%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 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

3 since 2016

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 3 fires within 5 miles of Thurman between 2016 and 2020, burning about 128 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
Smoking2
Debris and open burning1

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
6 March 2020Smoking80 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
5 March 2020Smoking43 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
18 March 2016Debris and open burning5.0 acresIowa Department of Natural ResourcesGLENWOOD FIRE DEPARTMENT

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Fremont County

Mines and quarries near this place

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Thurman: 2 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: 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
Tabor QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Thurman QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
UnknownStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer

Every working recorded in Fremont County

Storms near this place

24 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Thurman in 24 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 12 hail, 8 thunderstorm wind, 4 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 1994HailThurman$50,000Warm, moist, and unstable air poured into Iowa during the day. By the early evening hours thunderstorms erupted over eastern Nebraska and southwest Iowa where convection broke through the capping layer. The storms produced hail over the far southwest corner of the state. The hail ranged from dime-size to golf ball-size. Considerable damage was reported to the crops in the area.
April 2025Tornado (EF0)Thurman-Approximately 7:13 PM CST on Thursday, April 17, 2025, a tornado formed 3 miles southwest of Tabor, IA. The tornado stirred up copious amounts of dust and dirt from recently plowed agricultural field. The tornado moved southeast across mainly agricultural fields until cross U.S. 275, producing EF-0 damage to roofs and farm outbuildings just south of 130th Street, reaching a width of about 1/4 mile. Based on video, the tornado weakened briefly east of U.S. 275 until it crossed 280th Avenue, where it again reached a width of about 1/4 mile and strengthened again before crossing 290th Avenue, producing EF-0 damage to trees and flipping irrigation pivots. The tornado continued until about the intersection of 300th Avenue and 140th Street where it dissipated at approximately 7:28 PM CST. The maximum wind speed during this track was estimated at 85 mph, 0 fatalities and 0 injuries.
June 2023Thunderstorm WindThurman-Emergency management relayed photos of numerous downed trees and branches in Thurman.
April 2023HailThurman-Public reported 3-inch hail near Thurman.
April 2023HailThurman-Trained spotter reported quarter size hail.
April 2023Tornado (EF0)Thurman-Multiple photographs and accounts from storm chasers and public confirm a tornado in this approximate location that lasted for approximately 3 minutes. No damage was reported with this tornado.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindThurman-Very large trees southwest of Thurman were blown down by damaging winds. Th trees were blocking a road.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindThurman-Several trees were blown down by damaging thunderstorm winds.
August 2015Thunderstorm WindThurman-Images from social media posts indicate that a downburst occurred in Thurman. Several large tree branches were blown down, and one tree was completely snapped.
April 2010Thunderstorm WindThurman-Thunderstorm winds estimated at 55 to 60 mph downed a tree limb around 2 inches in diameter.
April 2010HailThurman-Hail up to nickel size fell for about 10 minutes southwest of Thurman.
March 2006Thunderstorm WindThurman-Thunderstorm winds blew over a few grain bins and power lines near Thurman
May 2004Tornado (F0)Thurman-A tornado was followed by an Amatuer radio operator and reported by emergency management north of Thurman. The tornado lifted several times along its track and stayed in open country with no apparent damage reported.
April 2002Tornado (F0)Thurman-A brief touchdown of a tornado in open country just northeast of exit 20 on Interstate 29. The tornado was caught on film by a storm chaser.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindThurman-no account filed
June 2017HailThurman-no account filed
May 2007HailThurman-no account filed
March 2006HailThurman-no account filed
April 2005HailThurman-no account filed
May 2004HailThurman-no account filed
May 2004HailThurman-no account filed
May 2004Thunderstorm WindThurman-no account filed
August 2003HailThurman-no account filed
August 2003HailThurman-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Fremont 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
McPaul2.9 miles15
Bartlett5.1 miles15
Percival6.0 miles12
Eureka (historical)6.1 miles15
Tabor6.8 miles9
Sidney7.3 miles12
Anderson7.7 miles9
Randolph10.3 miles9

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 ThurmanAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2247700The 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 462237. 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.