Otoe, Nebraska
13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1903 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Berlin precinct. It lies in ZIP code area 68417. The Survey maps it on the Dunbar quadrangle. 161 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,112 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresOtoe fell from 171 to 161 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 | 171 | |
| 2020 | 161 | -10 (-6%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 13 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.
- 1903 USGS Weeping Water quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1929 USGS Weeping Water quadrangle1:125000
- 1955 USGS Lincoln quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1957 USGS Lincoln quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Lincoln quadrangle1:250000
- 1966 USGS Dunbar quadrangle1:24000
- 1986 USGS Lincoln quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
27 since 2005Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 27 fires within 5 miles of Otoe between 2005 and 2020, burning about 600 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 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/undetermined | 11 |
| Debris and open burning | 9 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 6 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 1 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 August 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 10 July 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 21 June 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 16 May 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 5 April 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5.0 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 4 April 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 20 April 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 10 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 2 April 2009 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
16 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Otoe in 16 storm reports between 1994 and 2023: 9 hail, 5 thunderstorm wind, 1 flood, 1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Otoe | - | Public sent a video and a detailed report of what appeared to be a gustnado that tracked south to north for approximately 1 mile. The winds were strong enough to snap a few 8-inch diameter tree branches. This feature occurred on the north edge of a developing storm with winds gusting from south to north in the area just east of the dust whirl. |
| April 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Otoe | - | Public reported a measured peak wind gust of 63 mph. |
| December 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Otoe | - | Trained spotter reported estimated wind gusts of 70 mph. |
| April 2017 | Tornado (EF0) | Otoe | - | A tornado was observed from development to dissipation via live stream from storm chasers in the area. The tornado moved very slowly over open county and caused no damage. The tornado was highly visible due to the relatively high cloud bases associated with the supercell and was reported from several miles away from numerous sources. |
| July 2015 | Hail | Otoe | - | Pictures of the hail showed a spike appearance. |
| September 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Otoe | - | Emergency management estimated thunderstorm wind gusts approached 80 mph near Otoe. The winds toppled many trees in the area, especially north and west of town where 5 county roads were closed. The wind was accompanied by hail up to 1 inch in diameter. |
| September 2010 | Hail | Otoe | - | The hail was accompanied by thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at 70 to 80 mph. |
| June 2008 | Flood | Otoe | - | Heavy rain that fell across the Little Nemaha River basin on June 4th prompted the Little Nemaha River and the North Fork of the Little Nemaha River to flood from Palmyra and Otoe downstream through Talmage. The flood waters covered the bridge of old Highway 2 east of Dunbar and crossed the railroad tracks near town. Other flooding was observed around Palmyra and Unadilla through Syracuse. Besides agricultural lowlands, county roads in the region were also flooded. The Little Nemaha River at Auburn, which is in Nemaha county just downstream of the above locations, crested at 24.4 feet around 10pm CDT on June 5th, flood stage is 22 feet. |
| June 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Otoe | - | Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated to over 60 mph knocked down trees that blocked a road 2 miles west of Otoe. |
| June 2017 | Hail | Otoe | - | no account filed |
| June 2014 | Hail | Otoe | - | no account filed |
| March 2010 | Hail | Otoe | - | no account filed |
| September 2005 | Hail | Otoe | - | no account filed |
| March 2000 | Hail | Otoe | - | no account filed |
| June 2000 | Hail | Otoe | - | no account filed |
| June 1994 | Hail | Otoe | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Syracuse | 5.9 miles | 13 | |
| Dunbar | 6.0 miles | 13 | |
| Unadilla | 8.6 miles | 13 | |
| Cio (historical) | 10.1 miles | 13 | |
| Delta (historical) | 10.1 miles | 13 | |
| Lorton | 10.1 miles | 13 | |
| Wyoming | 10.5 miles | 11 | |
| Elberon | 10.9 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 Otoe | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2678409 | 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 831917. 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.






