Brownson, Nebraska
8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Sidney 4 precinct. It lies in ZIP code area 69162. The Survey maps it on the Brownson quadrangle.
Topographic sheets covering this place
4 surveys from 8 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.
- 1954 USGS Scottsbluff quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Scottsbluff quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1972 USGS Brownson quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Kimball quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
24 since 2012Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 24 fires within 5 miles of Brownson between 2012 and 2020, burning about 1,171 acres in total. 8 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 |
|---|---|
| Natural | 8 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 4 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3 |
| Debris and open burning | 3 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Smoking | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 September 2012 | Smoking | 1.0 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 10 September 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 5 August 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 23 August 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 8 July 2016 | Natural | under an acre | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 6 July 2020 | Natural | 10 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 26 July 2014 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 21 July 2012 | Smoking | 1.0 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
28 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Brownson in 28 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 18 hail, 8 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 1999 | Hail | Brownson | $6,000,000 | no account filed |
| June 1997 | Hail | Brownson | $5,000 | no account filed |
| June 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Brownson | - | Mesonet near Brownson reported a 62 mph gust. |
| May 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Brownson | - | UPR site 3 WNW of Brownson gusted 63mph. |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Brownson | - | UPR site near Brownson gusted 58 MPH during a thunderstorm. |
| July 2025 | Hail | Brownson | - | Fire chief reports golf ball size hailstones. |
| June 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Brownson | - | Trained spotter estimated wind gust. |
| June 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Brownson | - | Mesonet station K1GW - Golf (Sidney) reported wind gust 4 miles north-northwest of Brownson, NE. |
| May 2015 | Hail | Brownson | - | Ping pong ball to golf ball sized hail was observed five miles northwest of Brownson. |
| May 2015 | Hail | Brownson | - | Half dollar size hail was observed 10 miles north of Brownson. |
| May 2015 | Hail | Brownson | - | Quarter to hen egg size hail was observed a mile south-southwest of Brownson. |
| May 2013 | Hail | Brownson | - | There were several reports of quarter size hail in Brownson. |
| May 2013 | Hail | Brownson | - | Golf ball size hail was reported six miles west of Sidney. |
| May 2013 | Hail | Brownson | - | Marble to quarter size hail was reported three miles east-northeast of Brownson. |
| June 2013 | Tornado (EF0) | Brownson | - | A weak tornado touched down in open country south of Potter and Interstate 80. The tornado moved slightly west of due north, then dissipated a few minutes later. No damage was reported. |
| June 2013 | Hail | Brownson | - | Marble to golf ball size hail was reported at Highway 30 mile marker 48 east of Potter. |
| June 2012 | Hail | Brownson | - | Penny to quarter sized hail was reported west of Sidney. |
| July 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Brownson | - | Wind gusts were estimated at 60 mph 7 miles west-northwest of Sidney. |
| July 2010 | Hail | Brownson | - | Heavy rate of hail reported at spotter's location. |
| July 2003 | Tornado (F0) | Brownson | - | Weak tornado reported over open country. |
| June 2022 | Hail | Brownson | - | no account filed |
| June 2022 | Hail | Brownson | - | no account filed |
| July 2020 | Hail | Brownson | - | no account filed |
| July 2010 | Hail | Brownson | - | no account filed |
| June 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Brownson | - | no account filed |
| June 2001 | Hail | Brownson | - | no account filed |
| March 1998 | Hail | Brownson | - | no account filed |
| June 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Brownson | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ordville (historical) | 2.2 miles | 8 | |
| Point of Rocks | 7.2 miles | 8 | |
| Mount Vernon | 7.2 miles | 8 | |
| Huntsman | 7.7 miles | 11 | |
| Sidney | 7.8 miles | 11 | |
| Lorenzo | 9.9 miles | 8 | |
| Potter | 10.9 miles | 8 | |
| Gurley | 12.0 miles | 11 |
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 Brownson | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q17512398 | 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 827697. 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.



