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Ames, Nebraska

12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1899 and the latest in 1982. It stands in Platte Township. It lies in ZIP code area 68621. The Survey maps it on the Fremont West quadrangle. 14 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,227 feet above sea level.

Ames within Dodge County

Population over time

2 figures

Ames fell from 24 to 14 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
201024
202014-10 (-42%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 12 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

25 since 2010

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 25 fires within 5 miles of Ames between 2010 and 2020, burning about 25 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
Debris and open burning14
Missing data/not specified/undetermined5
Recreation and ceremony3
Railroad operations and maintenance2
Equipment and vehicle use1

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
5 September 2010Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
3 July 2018Railroad operations and maintenance1.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
2 June 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
12 June 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
9 May 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
4 May 2019Debris and open burning1.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
30 April 2020Debris and open burning3.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
26 April 2020Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Dodge County

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Ames: 1 producer. All of them still produce. 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
No.5 Pasco PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Dodge County

Storms near this place

18 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Ames in 18 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 10 hail, 5 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado, 1 flood. 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
April 2025Thunderstorm WindAmes-Report from 911 call center of home damage west of Fremont, Nebraska. Additional reports include tree damage, roof damage, and power outages. Estimated wind gusts of 73 mph.
April 2025HailAmes-Emergency manager reported hail estimated at golf ball and baseball-sized (2.75 in diameter). The report was delayed with the time estimated from radar.
April 2024HailAmes-The office received a public report of 1 inch hail.
April 2024HailAmes-The office received a public report of 1 inch hail.
June 2024FloodAmes-Training thunderstorms brought a swath of heavy rain to portions of southern Nebraska, beginning in Dawson County, and expanding into portions of northeast and east-central Nebraska. Areas upstream the Platte River, primarily in Merrick, Howard and Nance counties saw over 5 inches of rain with these storms. As such, this heavy upstream rain in addition to about an inch of additional rain that fell across Dodge county resulted in the Platte River reaching flood stage. The Platte near the intersection of Dodge, Douglas and Saunders counties crested at 1:15 CDT at 11.89 feet. Flood stage at this portion of the river is 11.0 feet.
May 2023Tornado (EF2)Ames-A tornado developed just north of the Platte River in Dodge County, initially as a wide dust plume 4 miles east of North Bend. The tornado moved northeast where it flipped multiple center pivot irrigation systems. it then damaged several large power lines and caused substantial damage to outbuildings, trees, and structural damage to a home. The tornado then caused some damage to another house as well as trees before dissipating just north of County Road P.
May 2023HailAmes-Public reported 1-inch hail via mPing.
May 2022Thunderstorm WindAmes-Personal weather station measured a peak wind gust of 59 mph.
June 2020Thunderstorm WindAmes-Public reported wind damage to limbs from Sycamore trees in the area.
May 2019HailAmes-This was reported by the public on social media.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindAmes-Tree damage was reported at this farmstead, as well as shingles off some of the buildings.
May 2011Thunderstorm WindAmes-A spotter estimated thunderstorm wind gusts reached 70 mph east of North Bend. The winds were accompanied by 1 inch hail.
June 1997Tornado (F0)Ames-Tornado remained in open county and caused no damage.
May 2018HailAmes-no account filed
July 2016HailAmes-no account filed
April 2013HailAmes-no account filed
August 2007HailAmes-no account filed
June 2001HailAmes-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Dodge 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
Fremont6.8 miles16
Inglewood7.0 miles12
Paradise Estates7.1 miles16
North Bend8.3 miles11
Nickerson9.9 miles8
Hooper11.7 miles8
Winslow12.6 miles8
Webster13.3 miles8

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 AmesAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1561558The 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 835230. 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.