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Sidney, Nebraska

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1899 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Sidney City. It lies in ZIP code area 69162. The Survey maps it on the Sidney quadrangle. 6,410 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 4,088 feet above sea level.

Sidney within Cheyenne County

On record in Sidney

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 7 records

Population over time

2 figures

Sidney fell from 6,757 to 6,410 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
20106,757
20206,410-347 (-5%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 11 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

72 since 2007

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 72 fires within 5 miles of Sidney between 2007 and 2020, burning about 511 acres in total. 5 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/undetermined31
Fireworks9
Railroad operations and maintenance9
Equipment and vehicle use7
Natural5
Debris and open burning5
Power generation/transmission/distribution4
Misuse of fire by a minor2

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 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.7 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
5 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
5 September 2007Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
4 September 2020Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
4 September 2007Debris and open burningunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
3 September 2016Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
2 September 2007Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
2 September 2007Debris and open burning10 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Cheyenne County

Storms near this place

60 of 220 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Sidney in 220 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 165 hail, 32 thunderstorm wind, 10 flash flood, 6 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 1999HailSidney$150,0001.75 inch hail fell 10 miles northwest of Sidney, NE
June 1997HailSidney$50,000Several windshields broken and vehicles dented.
August 1993Thunderstorm WindSidney$50,000Strong thunderstorm winds blew over two tractor-trailer trucks on Interstate 80.
August 1996Flash FloodSidney$50,000no account filed
June 2010HailSidney$40,000Leaves stripped from trees. Cars damaged and siding on many homes damaged.
July 2010Thunderstorm WindSidney$20,000Strong thunderstorm winds blew railroad cars off their tracks on an overpass in Sidney.
May 2000HailSidney$20,000no account filed
June 1997HailSidney$20,000no account filed
October 1997Thunderstorm WindSidney$15,000Thunderstorm winds of 62 MPH blew the roof off a construction company building at 1746 and deposited the roof 100 yards away. Winds also damaged several business signs, and split a tree truck which then partially blocked a residential street.
June 2009Flash FloodSidney$10,000Heavy rainfall flooded some roads in the downtown Sidney area with water reported in some businesses and homes.
June 1998HailSidney$6,000A storm produced golfball size hail over southeast Cheyenne County.
August 1996HailSidney$5,000no account filed
June 2010HailSidney$1,000Hail fell for five minutes. Residents were at Legion Park at the time. They were caught outside in the open and received bruises. Their vehicle sustained damage with broken side mirrors and shattered windsheild.
May 2010Thunderstorm WindSidney$1,000Windows were blown out of a house in Sidney around 1200MST.
July 1998LightningSidney$1,000Half of the town of Sidney was without power after a lightning bolt hit one of the main lines coming from a substation north of Sidney.
May 2025Thunderstorm WindSidney-UPR site 3 WNW of Brownson reported a 63mph wind gust.
May 2025Thunderstorm WindSidney-KSNY airport station gusted 64mph.
May 2025HailSidney-Public report of 1 in hail.
August 2024Thunderstorm WindSidney-Sidney ASOS reported this downburst wind gust.
July 2024Thunderstorm WindSidney-Sidney Airport ASOS station (KSNY) measured wind gust.
June 2023HailSidney-The public reported 2-inch diameter hail on the east side of the city of Sidney.
May 2023HailSidney-The public reported quarter sized hail in the city of Sidney.
June 2023HailSidney-Baseball sized hail was observed in the city of Sidney.
June 2023HailSidney-Quarter sized hail was reported 1 mile N of Sidney via mPING.
June 2023HailSidney-The public reported 2-inch diameter hail 8 miles ESE of Brownson.
August 2023Flash FloodSidney-Reports of flash flooding in Sidney on many city roads. One vehicle stuck in high water.
June 2023HailSidney-Received report on Facebook of hail east of Sidney.
June 2023HailSidney-Received report from mPING.
August 2023HailSidney-Public report of 1 inch hail 1 mile west of Sidney.
August 2023Thunderstorm WindSidney-Emergency Manager reported 7 inch diameter tree limb broken in Sidney from severe downburst winds.
July 2023Thunderstorm WindSidney-Emergency manager reported flipped pivot east northeast of Sidney as well.
May 2020HailSidney-Slight hail accumulation 1 mile west of Sidney, NE.
May 2020HailSidney-One mile north of Sunol, NE.
September 2018HailSidney-Half dollar size hail covered the ground.
June 2018HailSidney-Quarter size hail was observed southeast of Sidney.
June 2018HailSidney-Quarter size hail was observed east of Sidney.
May 2018HailSidney-Tennis ball size hail was observed northwest of Sidney.
May 2018HailSidney-Tennis ball size hail was observed north of Sidney.
May 2018HailSidney-Quarter size hail was observed west of Sidney.
May 2018HailSidney-Hen egg size hail was observed at the Interstate 80 rest area west of Sidney.
May 2018HailSidney-Dime to quarter size hail was observed at Sidney.
May 2018HailSidney-Half dollar size hail was observed east of Gurley.
June 2017HailSidney-Hen egg size hail was observed at Cabela's near Sidney.
September 2017HailSidney-Quarter size hail was observed at Sidney.
September 2017HailSidney-Half dollar size hail was observed at Sidney.
June 2017HailSidney-Quarter size hail covered the ground three to four inches deep at Sidney.
July 2017HailSidney-Nickel to quarter size hail was observed north of Sidney.
July 2017HailSidney-Quarter size hail was observed northeast of Sidney.
July 2017HailSidney-Quarter size hail was observed northwest of Sidney.
July 2017Thunderstorm WindSidney-Estimated 60 mph wind gusts were observed northwest of Sidney.
September 2016Thunderstorm WindSidney-Estimated wind gusts of 60 mph were reported at Sidney.
June 2016Thunderstorm WindSidney-A measured wind gust of 58 mph was reported a mile north of Sidney.
September 2016Thunderstorm WindSidney-Estimated wind gusts of 60 mph were reported a mile east of Sidney. There were numerous broken tree limbs.
August 2016HailSidney-Nickel to quarter size hail was reported 12 miles northwest of Sidney.
August 2016HailSidney-Marble to quarter size hail was reported at Sidney.
July 2016HailSidney-Quarter size hail was reported 10 miles south-southeast of Sidney.
July 2016HailSidney-Half dollar size hail covered the ground two miles north of Sidney.
April 2015Thunderstorm WindSidney-Wind gusts were estimated at 60 mph east of Sidney.
June 2015HailSidney-Quarter size hail was observed seven miles south of Sidney.
June 2015HailSidney-Ping pong ball size hail was observed 10 miles southeast of Sidney.

Every storm recorded in Cheyenne 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
Huntsman5.4 miles11
Colton6.4 miles11
Brownson7.8 miles8
Lorenzo8.1 miles8
Ordville (historical)8.6 miles8
Sunol11.4 miles11
Mount Vernon12.0 miles8
Gurley12.4 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 SidneyAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q966516The 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 833422. 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.