Ashton, Nebraska
12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1899 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Ashton precinct. It lies in ZIP code area 68817. The Survey maps it on the Ashton quadrangle. 198 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,037 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresAshton grew from 194 to 198 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 | 194 | |
| 2020 | 198 | +4 (+2%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 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 Loup quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1953 USGS Ashton quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1955 USGS Broken Bow quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1956 USGS Broken Bow quadrangle1:250000
- 1985 USGS St. Paul quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
13 since 2007Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 13 fires within 5 miles of Ashton between 2007 and 2020, burning about 129 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 |
|---|---|
| Equipment and vehicle use | 7 |
| Debris and open burning | 5 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 August 2012 | Natural | 38 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 2 August 2014 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 12 May 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 5.0 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 2 April 2007 | Debris and open burning | 10 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 27 March 2019 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 16 March 2012 | Debris and open burning | 50 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 19 February 2014 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 16 November 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
Storms near this place
40 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Ashton in 40 storm reports between 1994 and 2024: 28 hail, 7 thunderstorm wind, 3 flash flood, 2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2019 | Flash Flood | Ashton | $1,000,000 | no account filed |
| May 2024 | Flash Flood | Ashton | $500,000 | Radar estimates and local reports showed that between 2 and 5 inches of rain fell across the area, mostly in a period of two hours from approximately 7AM to 9AM. The highest amounts occurred in central and west-central portions of Howard County. Emergency management and law enforcement reported that water was covering parts of Highway 92 in the Farwell area as well as parts of Highway 11 in the Elba area. Water was running over rural roads, and numerous rural roads ended up being closed. Small creeks were flooded, with this water eventually making into and flooding the Turkey Creek, which runs north of Dannebrog and eventually into the Middle Loup River. |
| August 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ashton | $300,000 | no account filed |
| October 2013 | Flood | Ashton | $250,000 | This report was posted to the KHAS-TV facebook page around midnight CDT. A KHAS viewer reported driving into flood waters on Highway 92, just east of Ashton. Water was over the hood of the vehicle and caused the vehicle to stall. |
| June 2016 | Hail | Ashton | $150,000 | Quarter to golf ball size hail fell from a nearly stationary storm in the Ashton area. The actual duration of hail was likely at least several minutes, but ground-truth duration details were not available for any particular location. |
| August 2015 | Hail | Ashton | $100,000 | The vinyl siding on the west side of the garage was damaged by the hail. The garden located at the home was destroyed and there was notable crop damage in the area. |
| July 2013 | Hail | Ashton | $100,000 | no account filed |
| June 1997 | Hail | Ashton | $90,000 | no account filed |
| May 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ashton | $50,000 | no account filed |
| September 2015 | Hail | Ashton | $25,000 | Extensive soybean crop damage was reported in the area. |
| July 2004 | Hail | Ashton | $25,000 | no account filed |
| June 2016 | Flood | Ashton | $5,000 | A small creek experienced significant flooding, flooding at least one gravel county road five miles north of Rockville near the intersection of Rockville Road and 784 Road. Doppler radar estimates indicated that two to four inches of rain fell mainly between 4:30-7:00 p.m. CDT. |
| June 2016 | Flash Flood | Ashton | $5,000 | A small creek experienced significant flooding, flooding at least one gravel county road five miles north of Rockville near the intersection of Rockville Road and 784 Road. Doppler radar estimates indicated that two to four inches of rain fell mainly between 4:30-7:00 p.m. CDT. |
| August 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ashton | $5,000 | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Hail | Ashton | $5,000 | no account filed |
| July 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ashton | $2,000 | no account filed |
| July 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ashton | - | Wind gusts estimated to be near 60 MPH resulted in some downed tree branches in Ashton. |
| June 2016 | Hail | Ashton | - | Hail was mostly nickel size with a few up to quarters. The actual duration of hail was likely at least several minutes, but ground-truth duration details were not available for any particular location. |
| August 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ashton | - | Tree limbs of 4 to 5 inches in diameter were blown down. |
| August 2009 | Hail | Ashton | - | Hail accompanied by wind gusts estimated at 60 mph. |
| May 2004 | Hail | Ashton | - | The cooperative observer in Ashton reported penny size hail fell for about ten minutes. |
| August 2021 | Hail | Ashton | - | no account filed |
| April 2017 | Hail | Ashton | - | no account filed |
| September 2015 | Hail | Ashton | - | no account filed |
| September 2015 | Hail | Ashton | - | no account filed |
| May 2014 | Hail | Ashton | - | no account filed |
| August 2013 | Hail | Ashton | - | no account filed |
| May 2012 | Hail | Ashton | - | no account filed |
| May 2012 | Hail | Ashton | - | no account filed |
| May 2012 | Hail | Ashton | - | no account filed |
| June 2011 | Hail | Ashton | - | no account filed |
| August 2011 | Hail | Ashton | - | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Hail | Ashton | - | no account filed |
| April 2003 | Hail | Ashton | - | no account filed |
| July 2002 | Hail | Ashton | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Hail | Ashton | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Hail | Ashton | - | no account filed |
| August 1997 | Hail | Ashton | - | no account filed |
| July 1995 | Hail | Ashton | - | no account filed |
| July 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ashton | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rockville | 9.2 miles | 12 | |
| Loup City | 9.3 miles | 12 | |
| Hazard | 18.6 miles | 11 | |
| Litchfield | 20.1 miles | 10 |
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 Ashton | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q3289809 | 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 827096. 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.




