Brainard, Nebraska
11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1899 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Oak Creek Township. It lies in ZIP code area 68626. The Survey maps it on the Brainard quadrangle. 336 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,673 feet above sea level.
On record in Brainard
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 1 record
Population over time
2 figuresBrainard grew from 330 to 336 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 | 330 | |
| 2020 | 336 | +6 (+2%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 11 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 David City quadrangle1:125000, 3 printings
- 1955 USGS Fremont quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Fremont quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Fremont quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS Brainard quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS David City quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
8 since 2010Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 8 fires within 5 miles of Brainard between 2010 and 2020, burning about 138 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 |
|---|---|
| Equipment and vehicle use | 3 |
| Debris and open burning | 3 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 September 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 14 September 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 5.0 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 9 April 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 6 April 2011 | Debris and open burning | 80 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 16 March 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | 20 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 9 February 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 2 December 2011 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 27 November 2010 | Debris and open burning | 10 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
22 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Brainard in 22 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 9 thunderstorm wind, 8 hail, 2 tornado, 1 flash 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Brainard | $15,000 | Wind damage to trees and building destroyed. |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Brainard | - | Personal weather station measured wind gust of 65 mph along the outflow boundary of a thunderstorm. |
| September 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Brainard | - | Photos shared via social media of a destroyed outbuilding and a large, downed tree branch which did damage to the roof of a home. Time estimated based on radar. |
| April 2024 | Funnel Cloud | Brainard | - | The Butler County Emergency Manager reported a funnel cloud just to the southwest of Brainard. |
| May 2024 | Tornado (EF0) | Brainard | - | This brief tornado touched down a quarter mile north of 28 Road and a quarter mile west of Q Road, and tracked east for approximately two-thirds of a mile before dissipating. On the west side of Q road, a center pivot was overturned. Several hardwood trees were blown down on the east side of Q road. This tornado had peak estimated winds of 84 miles per hour, with a max width of 50 yards and an estimated mean width of 40 yards. |
| April 2024 | Tornado (EFU) | Brainard | - | Trained spotters with video and photo confirmation reported a tornado lasting approximately 1 minute over open fields. There was no damage found from this tornado, so its width and wind speeds were not able to be accurately estimated. |
| May 2019 | Heavy Rain | Brainard | - | Measured 2.46 inches south of Brainerd. |
| June 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Brainard | - | Trees and power lines were down in Brainard. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Brainard | - | Tree branches, some 6 to 8 inches in diameter were downed at the high school. |
| June 2012 | Hail | Brainard | - | Hail just under quarter-size was reported east of Brainard. |
| June 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Brainard | - | Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at over 70 mph downed numerous large trees southeast of Brainard. |
| May 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Brainard | - | A trained spotter estimated that thunderstorm winds gusted over 70 mph north of Brainard. The winds caused tree damage in the area. |
| June 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Brainard | - | Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated up to 80 mph knocked down trees and damaged buildings 2 miles east of Brainard. |
| August 2002 | Hail | Brainard | - | Hail from nickel to golfball size covered the ground. |
| May 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Brainard | - | Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at 60 mph downed a few trees southeast of Brainard. Damage was reported by a cooperative observer. |
| May 1998 | Flash Flood | Brainard | - | Thunderstorms produced up to 6 inches of rain in a short time causing some flash flooding. |
| May 2019 | Hail | Brainard | - | no account filed |
| March 2009 | Hail | Brainard | - | no account filed |
| September 2006 | Hail | Brainard | - | no account filed |
| June 2001 | Hail | Brainard | - | no account filed |
| May 1996 | Hail | Brainard | - | no account filed |
| May 1996 | Hail | Brainard | - | 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.
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 Brainard | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2196172 | 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 827616. 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.






