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Vandalia, Iowa

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1930 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Des Moines Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50237. The Survey maps it on the Runnells quadrangle.

Vandalia within Jasper County

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 11 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

19 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 19 fires within 5 miles of Vandalia between 1992 and 2018, burning about 143 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 4 were 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/undetermined6
Debris and open burning5
Arson/incendiarism4
Smoking2
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
Natural1

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
24 September 2012Debris and open burning1.6 acresNeal Smith National Wildlife RefugeAMANDA FIRE
18 May 2017Naturalunder an acreNeal Smith National Wildlife RefugeBALE FIRE
9 April 2014Debris and open burning20 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
4 April 1993Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNeal Smith National Wildlife Refuge102/119
22 April 2014Debris and open burning10 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
13 April 2018Debris and open burning5.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
27 March 1992Arson/incendiarism3.0 acresNeal Smith National Wildlife RefugeCONSERV1
26 March 2003Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNeal Smith National Wildlife RefugeDOGLEGBRIDGE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Jasper 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 Vandalia: 3 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Flagstone. 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
UnknownFlagstonePast Producer
Stevens PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Jasper County

Storms near this place

8 since 2013

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Vandalia in 8 storm reports between 2013 and 2024: 5 heavy rain, 1 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 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
March 2022Tornado (EF2)Vandalia$50,000,000The tornado moved into Jasper county from Polk county. The tornado remained largely in rural areas for much of its path across Jasper county. Despite its rural venture, the tornado impacted several residences in western Jasper county producing several areas of EF2 damage. The tornado did pass not far from the southeast side of Colfax damaging structures near the intersection of Highway 117 and S 44th Avenue West. The tornado crossed Interstate 80 east of Colfax near mile marker 160 and then proceeded towards Newton, grazing both the communities of Lambs Grove and Newton on the north sides. Most of the damage was to trees and minor damage to structures including loss of shingles and broken windows. The tornado did remove about a 100 foot segment of the roof of the former TPI Composites Plant northeast of Newton with the tornado dissipating shortly thereafter. In all, the tornado had a path length of just over 70 miles and passed through four counties including Madison, Warren, Polk and Jasper. The six deaths were the most by a tornado in Iowa since the Parkersburg tornado in May of 2008. The damage was into the hundreds of millions of dollars.
August 2013HailVandalia$5,000no account filed
August 2013Thunderstorm WindVandalia$2,000Estimated wind gusts by the public. Tree limb damage reported.
July 2024Heavy RainVandalia-Report of 4.43 inches of rain.
November 2022Heavy RainVandalia-A 24 hour rain total of 3.40 inches.
November 2022Heavy RainVandalia-A 24 hour rain total of 2.63 inches.
August 2019Heavy RainVandalia-Mesonet station recorded heavy rainfall of 2.49 inches. Beginning time estimated from radar.
July 2016Heavy RainVandalia-Mesonet station recorded heavy rainfall of 2.27 inches.

Every storm recorded in Jasper 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
Prairiebell5.2 miles11
Prairie City5.6 miles8
Severs9.2 miles8
Colfax10.1 miles8
Oswalt10.8 miles11
Monroe10.9 miles9
Metz12.6 miles8
Valeria13.2 miles11

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 462542. 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.