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Cortland, Nebraska

15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1897 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Highland Township. It lies in ZIP code area 68331. The Survey maps it on the Cortland quadrangle. 504 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,444 feet above sea level.

Cortland within Gage County

Population over time

2 figures

Cortland grew from 482 to 504 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
2010482
2020504+22 (+5%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 15 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

31 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 31 fires within 5 miles of Cortland between 2000 and 2020, burning about 283 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 burning19
Equipment and vehicle use6
Railroad operations and maintenance3
Missing data/not specified/undetermined2
Fireworks1

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
30 September 2000Railroad operations and maintenance1.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
28 September 2011Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
8 July 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
4 July 2007Fireworksunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
23 July 2011Debris and open burningunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
5 June 2010Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
3 April 2011Debris and open burningunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
3 April 2011Debris and open burningunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Gage County

Storms near this place

38 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Cortland in 38 storm reports between 1997 and 2024: 21 hail, 8 thunderstorm wind, 3 tornado, 3 funnel cloud. 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
June 2015Flash FloodCortland$20,000Emergency management reported that water was starting to flood United States Highway 77.
May 2024Thunderstorm WindCortland-A 68 miles per hour wind gust was measured by a personal weather station.
June 2020HailCortland-Emergency management reported some roof damage, vehicle damage, and crop damage due to 2 inch hail.
June 2020HailCortland-Emergency management reported 1.5 inch hail.
June 2020Thunderstorm WindCortland-Emergency management reported power lines down and large tree limbs broken.
June 2020Thunderstorm WindCortland-Public reported a 1 foot diameter tree snapped. Also noted other large tree limbs down.
October 2020Thunderstorm WindCortland-Personal weather station measured a peak wind gust of 58 mph.
May 2019Heavy RainCortland-Up to 3.36 inches of rain reported near Cortland.
September 2019HailCortland-The public reported hail up to 1.5 inches in diameter. Winds of 50 to 60 mph were also reported.
April 2017Tornado (EF0)Cortland-A storm chaser captured photographic images of a short-lived weak tornado that occurred as a supercell crossed the surface boundary. No damage was observed in the area and the tornado quickly dissipated.
May 2015Tornado (EF1)Cortland-A damage survey indicated a weak tornado developed near Cortland and traveled to the northeast. Damage in Cortland and surrounding areas of Gage County consisted of large tree branches and some minor shed damage. This tornado then continued into Lancaster County.
May 2014HailCortland-Hail a little under 3 inches in diameter was reported south of Cortland.
June 2013Thunderstorm WindCortland-Several trees and power lines were downed and a grain bin toppled and pushed into a surrounding field by thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at around 70 mph.
May 2013Flash FloodCortland-Heavy thunderstorm rains of 2 to 3 inches fell across the city of Cortland in a short time leading to flash flooding. Water covered highway 77 in Cortland.
November 2012Thunderstorm WindCortland-Outflow gusts from thunderstorms were estimated around 60 mph.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindCortland-Hail up to baseball-size was driven by thunderstorm winds estimated at 60 to 70 mph. The wind and hail flattened crops from near Cortland southeast to south of Adams then continuing into Johnson, Pawnee and Richardson counties. In Gage county the damage was visible by satellite pictures and was 10 to 15 miles wide. The hail also caused considerable house and vehicle damage along its path.
June 2010HailCortland-Hail up to 1 inch in diameter covered the road north of Beatrice.
June 2010HailCortland-Hail up to baseball-size was driven by thunderstorm winds estimated at 60 to 70 mph. The wind and hail flattened crops or in some cases mowed them down to a few inches from the ground from near Cortland southeast to south of Adams then continuing into Johnson, Pawnee and Richardson counties. In Gage county the damage was visible by satellite pictures and was 10 to 15 miles wide at its widest. However, the most serious damage was about 3 miles wide and 12 miles long or about 36 square miles of crops that were destroyed in northeast Gage county alone. The hail also caused considerable house and vehicle damage along its path.
April 2009Funnel CloudCortland-Emergency management spotted possibly two funnel clouds southeast of the the Jct of Highways 41 and 77 south of Cortland. The funnels were from the same mini-supercell thunderstorm that produced a tornado north of Beatrice.
August 2009Thunderstorm WindCortland-Thunderstorm winds estimated at between 60 and 70 mph downed a few large trees which covered Highway 77 in Cortland.
June 2006HailCortland-Hail up to 1 inch in diameter fell for 10 to 15 minutes east of Cortland.
June 2017HailCortland-no account filed
June 2017HailCortland-no account filed
June 2011HailCortland-no account filed
April 2010HailCortland-no account filed
June 2010HailCortland-no account filed
September 2010HailCortland-no account filed
June 2008HailCortland-no account filed
May 2006HailCortland-no account filed
April 2005HailCortland-no account filed
June 2005HailCortland-no account filed
June 2004HailCortland-no account filed
June 2004HailCortland-no account filed
August 2004HailCortland-no account filed
August 2002HailCortland-no account filed
May 1998Funnel CloudCortland-no account filed
May 1997Tornado (F0)Cortland-no account filed
May 1997Funnel CloudCortland-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Gage 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
Clatonia8.1 miles11
Pickrell8.8 miles10
Adams10.9 miles11
Hoag14.6 miles11
Glenover15.7 miles11
Beatrice16.5 miles11
Filley17.6 miles11
Rockford18.4 miles11

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 CortlandAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2388992The 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 828355. 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.