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.
Population over time
2 figuresAmes 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 24 | |
| 2020 | 14 | -10 (-42%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 12 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.
- 1899 USGS Wahoo quadrangle1:125000, 3 printings
- 1955 USGS Fremont quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Fremont quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Fremont quadrangle1:250000
- 1968 USGS Fremont West quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1982 USGS Fremont quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
25 since 2010Regional 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 burning | 14 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 3 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 2 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 September 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 3 July 2018 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 1.0 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 2 June 2020 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 12 June 2020 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 9 May 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 4 May 2019 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 30 April 2020 | Debris and open burning | 3.0 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 26 April 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No.5 Pasco Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
18 since 1997Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ames | - | 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 2025 | Hail | Ames | - | 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 2024 | Hail | Ames | - | The office received a public report of 1 inch hail. |
| April 2024 | Hail | Ames | - | The office received a public report of 1 inch hail. |
| June 2024 | Flood | Ames | - | 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 2023 | Tornado (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 2023 | Hail | Ames | - | Public reported 1-inch hail via mPing. |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ames | - | Personal weather station measured a peak wind gust of 59 mph. |
| June 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ames | - | Public reported wind damage to limbs from Sycamore trees in the area. |
| May 2019 | Hail | Ames | - | This was reported by the public on social media. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ames | - | Tree damage was reported at this farmstead, as well as shingles off some of the buildings. |
| May 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ames | - | A spotter estimated thunderstorm wind gusts reached 70 mph east of North Bend. The winds were accompanied by 1 inch hail. |
| June 1997 | Tornado (F0) | Ames | - | Tornado remained in open county and caused no damage. |
| May 2018 | Hail | Ames | - | no account filed |
| July 2016 | Hail | Ames | - | no account filed |
| April 2013 | Hail | Ames | - | no account filed |
| August 2007 | Hail | Ames | - | no account filed |
| June 2001 | Hail | Ames | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fremont | 6.8 miles | 16 | |
| Inglewood | 7.0 miles | 12 | |
| Paradise Estates | 7.1 miles | 16 | |
| North Bend | 8.3 miles | 11 | |
| Nickerson | 9.9 miles | 8 | |
| Hooper | 11.7 miles | 8 | |
| Winslow | 12.6 miles | 8 | |
| Webster | 13.3 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 Ames | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1561558 | 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 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.





