Alma, Nebraska
13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1896 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Alma City. It lies in ZIP code area 68920. It stands on Cook Creek. The Survey maps it on the Alma quadrangle. 1,043 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,975 feet above sea level.
On record in Alma
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 2 records
Alma City Auditorium and Sale Barnlisted 2014- Alma Carnegie Librarylisted 2021
Population over time
2 figuresAlma fell from 1,133 to 1,043 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 | 1,133 | |
| 2020 | 1,043 | -90 (-8%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 13 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.
- 1896 USGS Holdrege quadrangle1:125000, 5 printings
- 1955 USGS Grand Island quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Grand Island quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Grand Island quadrangle1:250000
- 1974 USGS Alma quadrangle1:24000
- 1986 USGS Holdrege quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
15 since 2007Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 15 fires within 5 miles of Alma between 2007 and 2020, burning about 30 acres in total. 1 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 |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 5 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 4 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Natural | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 9 August 2016 | Debris and open burning | 3.0 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 9 August 2016 | Debris and open burning | 4.0 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 25 August 2013 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1.0 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 14 August 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 6 March 2007 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 24 March 2008 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 18 March 2018 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
47 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Alma in 47 storm reports between 1993 and 2024: 28 hail, 13 thunderstorm wind, 3 tornado, 3 heavy rain. 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 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alma | $2,000,000 | The line of thunderstorms with damaging wind gusts up near 80 MPH continued into Harlan County. Damage was reported in the Alma, Republican City and Harlan County Dam areas. Large tree limbs near 8 to 12 inches in diameter were downed. On the south side of Harlan County Lake near Patterson Harbor, a shelter and dock for multiple boats were damaged and at least 4 boats were rammed onto the shore. A camping trailer was blown over onto a vehicle. In Republican City, another trailer with a pontoon boat was blown onto its side. |
| June 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alma | $150,000 | no account filed |
| June 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alma | $100,000 | no account filed |
| June 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alma | $60,000 | no account filed |
| December 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alma | $50,000 | Wind damage was reported in Alma, including downed tree limbs, some shingle and roof damage, power lines downed, and small outbuilding damage. |
| June 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alma | $25,000 | Thunderstorm wind gusts were estimated to be 60 to 70 mph in Alma, along with very heavy rain. |
| June 1997 | Hail | Alma | $25,000 | no account filed |
| June 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alma | $15,000 | Wind gusts estimated at 60 mph knocked down several trees. |
| July 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alma | $10,000 | Wind gusts estimated to be near 65 MPH resulted in tree damage in Alma, including several large downed limbs. |
| August 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alma | $10,000 | no account filed |
| September 2012 | Hail | Alma | $8,000 | no account filed |
| August 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alma | $5,000 | Two trees were reported blown down in Alma. |
| July 2008 | Hail | Alma | $5,000 | Heavy rain and pea to quarter size hail causing visibility near zero. |
| May 2007 | Hail | Alma | $5,000 | no account filed |
| July 2000 | Hail | Alma | $2,000 | no account filed |
| May 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alma | - | A wind gust of 58 MPH was measured by a mesonet station located three miles north-northwest of Alma. |
| May 2023 | Hail | Alma | - | Hail up to the size of half dollars was reported in the area. |
| April 2022 | Hail | Alma | - | Ping pong ball to golf ball size hail was reported. |
| April 2022 | Tornado (EFU) | Alma | - | As captured by storm chaser video, this tornado briefly touched down in open country approximately six miles southwest of Alma. No damage was reported. |
| April 2022 | Heavy Rain | Alma | - | Unofficial mesonet reported 3.96 of rain during this 4-hour period. |
| August 2021 | Heavy Rain | Alma | - | An unofficial personal weather station measured 4.76 of rain between 5 p.m. and midnight CDT. |
| July 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alma | - | A wind gust of 62 MPH was recorded by a mesonet station located 2 miles north-northwest of Alma. |
| August 2011 | Heavy Rain | Alma | - | Storm total rainfall of 3.20 inches was reported by a Nebraska Rainfall Assessment and Information Network observer. |
| August 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alma | - | Wind gusts estimated at 60 mph. |
| May 2004 | Tornado (F0) | Alma | - | A tornado was reported by a storm chaser. It was down only briefly. |
| May 1993 | Tornado (F1) | Alma | - | A tornado touched down briefly just south of Alma. Funnel clouds were also noted. |
| June 2024 | Hail | Alma | - | no account filed |
| May 2023 | Hail | Alma | - | no account filed |
| October 2023 | Hail | Alma | - | no account filed |
| April 2022 | Hail | Alma | - | no account filed |
| June 2018 | Hail | Alma | - | no account filed |
| June 2018 | Hail | Alma | - | no account filed |
| August 2015 | Hail | Alma | - | no account filed |
| April 2013 | Hail | Alma | - | no account filed |
| September 2012 | Hail | Alma | - | no account filed |
| May 2010 | Hail | Alma | - | no account filed |
| May 2010 | Hail | Alma | - | no account filed |
| October 2007 | Hail | Alma | - | no account filed |
| May 2003 | Hail | Alma | - | no account filed |
| June 2002 | Hail | Alma | - | no account filed |
| April 2001 | Hail | Alma | - | no account filed |
| August 2001 | Hail | Alma | - | no account filed |
| June 1999 | Hail | Alma | - | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Hail | Alma | - | no account filed |
| June 1996 | Hail | Alma | - | no account filed |
| July 1995 | Hail | Alma | - | no account filed |
| July 1995 | Hail | Alma | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orleans | 5.4 miles | 13 | |
| Republican City | 7.5 miles | 13 | |
| Flynn Junction | 8.5 miles | 13 | |
| Huntley | 8.6 miles | 13 | |
| Stamford | 12.5 miles | 13 | |
| Mascot | 15.1 miles | 14 | |
| Ragan | 15.2 miles | 13 | |
| Oxford Junction | 15.7 miles | 13 |
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 Alma | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q963116 | 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 826967. 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.
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.





