Whittemore, Iowa
7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Whittemore Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50598. The Survey maps it on the Whittemore quadrangle. 497 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,204 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresWhittemore fell from 504 to 497 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 | 504 | |
| 2020 | 497 | -7 (-1%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
4 surveys from 7 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 Fairmont quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Fairmont quadrangle1:250000
- 1980 USGS Whittemore quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Estherville quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
1 since 2009Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Whittemore in 2009, burning about 1 acre 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 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 April 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Mines and quarries near this place
4 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Whittemore: 3 past producers, 1 producer. 1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Siems County Park | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Whittemore Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
30 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Whittemore in 30 storm reports between 1998 and 2024: 12 thunderstorm wind, 10 hail, 3 flood, 2 funnel cloud. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2018 | Flood | Whittemore | $250,000 | Water was flooding portions of Whittemore with sewage backing up into homes. Water continued to flow across portions of Hwy 18 in Kossuth County. |
| April 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Whittemore | $75,000 | A barn and outbuilding destroyed. |
| July 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Whittemore | $35,000 | no account filed |
| July 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Whittemore | $30,000 | no account filed |
| August 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Whittemore | $25,000 | no account filed |
| July 2019 | Flash Flood | Whittemore | $20,000 | Emergency manager reported numerous county roads across southern Kossuth County closed and/or washed out due to flash flooding from the heavy rain. |
| July 2012 | Hail | Whittemore | $15,000 | no account filed |
| March 2019 | Flood | Whittemore | $10,000 | A large snowbank that had been holding back meltwater from local fields breached and allowed water to rush into the city of Whittemore. It flooded some roads to a depth of 1 to 2 feet. |
| September 2001 | Hail | Whittemore | $10,000 | no account filed |
| June 1999 | Hail | Whittemore | $10,000 | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Whittemore | $10,000 | no account filed |
| June 2015 | Lightning | Whittemore | $5,000 | Public reported lightning struck a house and destroyed the chimney. Photo came from the KCCI ulocal page and time radar estimated. |
| June 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Whittemore | $5,000 | Large tree limbs were blown down with parts of the city without power. |
| May 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Whittemore | $5,000 | Trained spotter driving on Highway 15 between Whittemore and Fenton estimated 60 MPH winds and had trouble controlling his car. Several cars were reported in the ditch with quarter size hail beginning at 2158 CST. |
| July 2012 | Hail | Whittemore | $5,000 | The ground was reported to be white with hail. |
| July 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Whittemore | $5,000 | Strong winds downed several trees in the Whittemore area. |
| May 2012 | Hail | Whittemore | $3,000 | no account filed |
| October 2005 | Hail | Whittemore | $2,000 | no account filed |
| July 2012 | Hail | Whittemore | $1,000 | no account filed |
| April 2004 | Hail | Whittemore | $1,000 | no account filed |
| July 2000 | Hail | Whittemore | $1,000 | no account filed |
| May 2024 | Flood | Whittemore | - | Approximately 20 secondary roads closed in the county due to water over the road. |
| July 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Whittemore | - | Trained spotter reported estimated 60 mph gusts. A few larger tree limbs were reported down, with several smaller branches and twigs down as well. |
| June 2018 | Flash Flood | Whittemore | - | Emergency manager reported about 1 foot of fast moving water across Highway 18. |
| September 2018 | Funnel Cloud | Whittemore | - | Family members of a trained spotter sent in a video of a funnel cloud. |
| May 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Whittemore | - | Algona RWIS measured wind gusts to 70 mph. |
| June 2010 | Funnel Cloud | Whittemore | - | Reports of rotating rain curtains and a brief funnel. |
| July 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Whittemore | - | Measured at the Algona RWIS site on U.S. Highway 18. |
| May 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Whittemore | - | no account filed |
| May 2005 | Hail | Whittemore | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lotts Creek | 7.3 miles | 7 | |
| Hobarton | 7.7 miles | 7 | |
| Algona | 10.3 miles | 8 | |
| Fenton | 10.9 miles | 7 | |
| Lone Rock | 12.0 miles | 7 | |
| Irvington | 12.8 miles | 8 | |
| Burt | 14.4 miles | 7 | |
| Saint Joseph | 14.7 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 Whittemore | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1929068 | 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 463013. 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.



