BlockBefore

Amherst, Nebraska

16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1896 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Precinct 26. It lies in ZIP code area 68845. The Survey maps it on the Amherst quadrangle. 201 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,356 feet above sea level.

Amherst within Buffalo County

Population over time

2 figures

Amherst fell from 248 to 201 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
2010248
2020201-47 (-19%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 16 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.

What the histories say of this town

257 words

1 chapter about Amherst from the published histories of the county, public domain and reproduced complete.

ChapterFrom Length
Buffalo County, Nebraska, and Its People : a Record of Settlement, OrgBuffalo County, Nebraska, and Its People : a Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement (1916)257 words

Fires near this place

22 since 2001

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 22 fires within 5 miles of Amherst between 2001 and 2019, burning about 25 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 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 burning9
Equipment and vehicle use5
Missing data/not specified/undetermined5
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Arson/incendiarism1

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
25 September 2019Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
20 September 2010Debris and open burning1.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
31 August 2001Debris and open burning1.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
3 July 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
2 July 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
19 July 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
10 June 2011Debris and open burningunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
16 May 2012Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Buffalo County

Storms near this place

28 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Amherst in 28 storm reports between 1993 and 2023: 18 hail, 10 thunderstorm wind. 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
June 2002HailAmherst$10,000,000no account filed
May 2011Thunderstorm WindAmherst$500,000Wind gusts were estimated at 80 MPH. Damage later reported in the area by the Emergency Manager included outbuildings damaged, power poles knocked over, and overturned pivots.
September 2017Thunderstorm WindAmherst$200,000Wind gusts were estimated to be near 60 MPH and was accompanied by hail up to the size of ping pong balls.
September 2017HailAmherst$200,000Hail ranged in size from quarters to ping pong balls.
May 2005HailAmherst$50,000Three different hail storms were reported over a 20 minute period, with hail sizes ranging from dime to golf balls.
October 2023Thunderstorm WindAmherst$30,000Wind gusts estimated to be near 70 MPH resulted in large tree branches being downed. The side of a metal machine shed was blown out and the steel supports were bent.
May 2017Thunderstorm WindAmherst$25,000Damage was reported approximately 10 miles north of Amherst, where a small outbuilding was knocked over. A lot of blowing dust was also reported along Highway 10.
May 2012HailAmherst$25,000no account filed
August 2005Thunderstorm WindAmherst$25,000no account filed
May 1998HailAmherst$20,000no account filed
May 1998HailAmherst$20,000no account filed
July 1996HailAmherst$20,000no account filed
June 2022Thunderstorm WindAmherst-Wind gusts were estimated to be near 60 MPH.
August 2014HailAmherst-Wind gusts of 50 mph occurred along with the quarter size hail.
July 2010Thunderstorm WindAmherst-Wind gusts estimated at 90 MPH.
April 1993Thunderstorm WindAmherst-Thunderstorm winds greater than 60 mph were measured near Amherst.
May 2023HailAmherst-no account filed
June 2023HailAmherst-no account filed
August 2020HailAmherst-no account filed
September 2017HailAmherst-no account filed
July 2016HailAmherst-no account filed
September 2015HailAmherst-no account filed
October 2014HailAmherst-no account filed
June 2001HailAmherst-no account filed
July 2001Thunderstorm WindAmherst-no account filed
July 2000HailAmherst-no account filed
July 1995HailAmherst-no account filed
July 1994Thunderstorm WindAmherst-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Buffalo 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
Odessa4.7 miles16
Riverdale5.8 miles15
Elm Creek6.4 miles16
Alfalfa Center7.1 miles18
R-Villa Courts9.5 miles20
Glenwood Park10.0 miles20
Kearney11.1 miles20
Prairie View Estates11.1 miles20

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 AmherstAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2239539The 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 826980. 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.