BlockBefore

Clearwater, Nebraska

10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Clearwater Township. It lies in ZIP code area 68726. The Survey maps it on the Clearwater quadrangle. 320 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,795 feet above sea level.

Clearwater within Antelope County

On record in Clearwater

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 figures

Clearwater fell from 419 to 320 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
2010419
2020320-99 (-24%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 10 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.

Fires near this place

8 since 2006

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 8 fires within 5 miles of Clearwater between 2006 and 2020, burning about 1,156 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined3
Equipment and vehicle use2
Natural1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
Debris and open burning1

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
7 July 2017Equipment and vehicle use5.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
27 June 2017Natural1.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
13 June 2008Power generation/transmission/distribution2.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
25 March 2008Equipment and vehicle use1,100 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
14 March 2013Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
24 February 2006Missing data/not specified/undetermined15 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
31 October 2020Debris and open burning30 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
14 October 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Antelope County

Storms near this place

49 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Clearwater in 49 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 23 hail, 20 thunderstorm wind, 2 flood, 2 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 2024Flash FloodClearwater$10,000Law enforcement reported water over several county roads within Antelope County.
August 1996LightningClearwater$5,000no account filed
October 1996Thunderstorm WindClearwater$3,000no account filed
July 2025Flash FloodClearwater-During the evening of July 7th, heavy rainfall moved through central Antelope county with rainfall rates of 1-3 inches per hour at times with an estimated 1-3 inches of total rainfall. This led to flash flooding with law enforcement reporting water covering about 40 yards of the east bound land of Highway 275 heading into Clearwater, NE.
July 2025HailClearwater-Fire department/rescue report of hail measured up to quarter sized, mixed in with mostly penny to nickel sized hail.
May 2022Thunderstorm WindClearwater-Personal weather station measured a peak wind gust of 61 mph.
May 2020Thunderstorm WindClearwater-Public reported 75 MPH wind and roof shingle damage.
January 2019FloodClearwater-An ice jam along the banks of the Elkhorn River was causing lowland flooding.
January 2019FloodClearwater-County road 519th Avenue is closed due to water from an ice jam on the Elkhorn river.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindClearwater-The emergency manager estimated 70 mph winds blew down road signs.
July 2015Thunderstorm WindClearwater-Scattered large tree branches were blown down around town. In addition, one healthy tree was uprooted and fell into a house in town.
May 2011Thunderstorm WindClearwater-Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at close to 60 mph downed tree limbs in the area.
June 2011Thunderstorm WindClearwater-A trained spotter reported thunderstorm wind gusts reached around 60 mph in the Clearwater area. The winds also were accompanied by torrential rain which caused some brief minor flooding of roads in the area.
June 2011Thunderstorm WindClearwater-Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at over 60 mph downed some large trees in the area. In addition, torrential rain caused some brief minor flooding of a county road.
June 2011Thunderstorm WindClearwater-Thunderstorm winds estimated at close to 70 mph tore apart a farm outbuilding south of Clearwater.
August 2011Thunderstorm WindClearwater-Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at over 60 mph uprooted at least one tree in the Clearwater area and also damaged crops and some structures in the area. The winds could have been from the same super cell thunderstorm that produced a tornado west of town. The wind was accompanied by a lot of hail, most of it small but some up to quarter-size.
August 2011HailClearwater-Hail, some estimated around quarter-size, was accompanied by thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at over 60 mph. Enough hail fell that it lasted on the ground well into the evening hours. The hail and wind caused some vehicle and structure damage in the area.
August 2011Tornado (EF0)Clearwater-A tornado was on ground for about 1 mile west of Clearwater. The tornado was caught on film by several people, and apparently did little damage.
August 2010Thunderstorm WindClearwater-A spotter estimated thunderstorm winds of around 60 mph downed some small tree limbs.
August 2007Thunderstorm WindClearwater-Thunderstorm winds estimated at 60 mph downed some tree limbs in the area.
May 2005HailClearwater-From the second storm to hit within an hour.
August 2005Thunderstorm WindClearwater-Thunderstorm wind gusts were estimated at 60 mph by a trained weather spotter in town.
May 2004Thunderstorm WindClearwater-Large tree limbs were broken by thunderstorm winds estimated at 60 mph.
May 2003HailClearwater-Hail up to 1 inch in diameter covered the ground in Clearwater.
July 2003Thunderstorm WindClearwater-Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at over 60 mph flattened a storage facility, did tree damage and bent a large flag pole in Clearwater.
June 2002Thunderstorm WindClearwater-Thunderstorm wind gusts of close to 60 mph were estimated by law enforcement officials in Clearwater.
July 2002Thunderstorm WindClearwater-A storm spotter estimated thunderstorm wind gusts of around 60 mph.
July 2001Thunderstorm WindClearwater-A law enforcement official estimated thunderstorm wind gusts of around 60 mph in Clearwater.
July 2014HailClearwater-no account filed
August 2013HailClearwater-no account filed
May 2013HailClearwater-no account filed
June 2008HailClearwater-no account filed
June 2008HailClearwater-no account filed
July 2007HailClearwater-no account filed
July 2007HailClearwater-no account filed
May 2005HailClearwater-no account filed
September 2005HailClearwater-no account filed
September 2005HailClearwater-no account filed
June 2002HailClearwater-no account filed
June 2002HailClearwater-no account filed
July 2002HailClearwater-no account filed
April 2001HailClearwater-no account filed
April 2001HailClearwater-no account filed
July 2001HailClearwater-no account filed
July 2001HailClearwater-no account filed
May 1998Thunderstorm WindClearwater-no account filed
July 1996HailClearwater-no account filed
October 1996HailClearwater-no account filed
July 1994Thunderstorm WindClearwater-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Antelope 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
Neligh8.9 miles10
Royal11.7 miles10
Orchard11.8 miles10
Oakdale13.5 miles9
Elgin14.0 miles10
Brunswick16.3 miles9

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 ClearwaterAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1099563The 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 828198. 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.