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Cook, Nebraska

13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1903 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Spring Creek precinct. It lies in ZIP code area 68329. It stands on Coon Creek. The Survey maps it on the Cook quadrangle. 319 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,053 feet above sea level.

Cook within Johnson County

Population over time

2 figures

Cook fell from 321 to 319 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
2010321
2020319-2 (-1%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 13 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

7 since 2004

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 7 fires within 5 miles of Cook between 2004 and 2020, burning about 25 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
Debris and open burning4
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
Recreation and ceremony1
Equipment and vehicle use1

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 March 2004Debris and open burning2.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
16 March 2015Recreation and ceremony10 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
1 March 2020Debris and open burning4.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
5 February 2005Debris and open burningunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
19 February 2016Debris and open burning2.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
27 November 2017Equipment and vehicle use6.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
21 January 2007Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Johnson County

Storms near this place

32 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Cook in 32 storm reports between 1996 and 2026: 23 hail, 4 thunderstorm wind, 4 tornado, 1 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
April 2026HailCook-Delayed public report received via social media of hail measured up to 1.25 inches in diameter near Cook, NE. Time estimated with radar.
April 2025HailCook-Law enforcement reported measured hail up to 1 in diameter.
June 2022HailCook-Trained spotter reported 1 inch hail.
May 2022HailCook-Public reported quarter size hail.
June 2022HailCook-Public reported slightly larger than golf ball sized hail and significant damage to siding and crops.
July 2020Thunderstorm WindCook-Public reported lots of tree damage in Cook. 6 inch and greater tree branches down. Pictures were sent via social media.
October 2018FloodCook-Water was reported over a county road west of Cook, NE. The person reported 4.20 inches of rain since the storm began earlier in the day.
March 2012HailCook-Pea to quarter-size hail fell in Cook.
April 2012Tornado (EF0)Cook-A weak tornado overturned a few center pivots as it tracked mostly in open fields southwest of Talmage. Some tree and outbuildings were also damaged along its 3.75 mile path. The tornado initially touched down just in Johnson county, but most of the track was in Nemaha county.
April 2012Tornado (EF2)Cook-This tornado touched down 5 miles west-southwest of Cook where it damaged trees and overturned a center pivot. A farmstead near there had 6 to 8 power poles snapped along with tree damage. From there the damage path was mostly east-northeast. About 1.5 miles west-northwest of Cook a home sustained significant structural damage, with the roof lifted completely off and 2 of its anchored exterior walls destroyed. An attached garage was destroyed as was a large shed. Materials from the house were blown at least a quarter of a mile away. Along Highway 50 several trees were knocked down in the Cook Cemetery. The tornado appeared to weaken as it crossed Highway 50, but still snapped trees and power poles along Road 738 north of Cook and caused tree damage near the football field. The tornado lifted about 1 mile east-northeast of Cook.
August 2012HailCook-Hail up to 1 inch in diameter covered the ground near Cook.
July 2010Thunderstorm WindCook-Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at around 60 mph downed a few large trees of 1 foot to 4 feet in diameter in the Cook area.
June 2009HailCook-Quarter to half dollar-size hail was reported in the Cook area.
May 2007Thunderstorm WindCook-Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at over 60 mph uprooted an oak tree southwest of Cook.
June 2005HailCook-Hail up to nickel size fell for 3 to 5 minutes near Cook.
August 2004HailCook-Hail up to golfball size was reported south of Cook. The hail caused damage to several cars in the area.
April 2001Thunderstorm WindCook-Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at around 70 mph damaged outbuildings near Cook.
May 2001Tornado (F0)Cook-Brief touchdown.
May 2001Tornado (F0)Cook-Brief touchdown in open country.
June 2018HailCook-no account filed
June 2018HailCook-no account filed
April 2017HailCook-no account filed
May 2015HailCook-no account filed
March 2012HailCook-no account filed
April 2005HailCook-no account filed
April 2005HailCook-no account filed
April 2005HailCook-no account filed
April 2005HailCook-no account filed
April 2005HailCook-no account filed
April 2001HailCook-no account filed
April 2001HailCook-no account filed
May 1996HailCook-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Johnson 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
Helena (historical)4.6 miles13
Graf (historical)8.2 miles10
Saint Mary8.9 miles10
Tecumseh10.0 miles10
Sterling11.9 miles10
Vesta14.0 miles10
Elk Creek15.5 miles10
Crab Orchard18.2 miles10

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 CookAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2561369The 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 828307. 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.