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Spencer, Nebraska

10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1952 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Spencer Township. It lies in ZIP code area 68777. The Survey maps it on the Spencer South quadrangle. 408 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,686 feet above sea level.

Spencer within Boyd County

Population over time

2 figures

Spencer fell from 455 to 408 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
2010455
2020408-47 (-10%)

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

12 since 2007

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 12 fires within 5 miles of Spencer between 2007 and 2015, burning about 386 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 burning6
Equipment and vehicle use2
Missing data/not specified/undetermined2
Fireworks2

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
3 July 2012Fireworks1.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
3 July 2011Fireworksunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
22 July 2012Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
21 July 2012Equipment and vehicle use75 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
1 July 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
22 June 2012Equipment and vehicle use6.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
23 April 2014Debris and open burning15 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
21 April 2009Debris and open burning2.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Boyd County

Storms near this place

40 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Spencer in 40 storm reports between 1996 and 2024: 30 hail, 9 thunderstorm wind, 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
June 2010FloodSpencer$75,000Thunderstorms with prolonged rain falling on already saturated ground caused widespread minor flooding along Ponca Creek in Boyd County. Power poles toppled due to errosion along the river bank. In addition, numerous rural roads were damaged due to the rain and flooding.
July 2015Thunderstorm WindSpencer$50,000Severe storms with winds estimated at 70 MPH severely damaged two barns at a farmstead northeast of Spencer. In addition, a grain bin was destroyed as well as a grain auger along with numerous large tree branches being broken.
June 2008HailSpencer$50,000Hail ranging from nickel to golf ball size accumulated to 4 to 5 inches deep. Snowplows were needed to clear the roads.
July 1999Thunderstorm WindSpencer$50,000A thunderstorm producing large hail of unknown sized destroyed crops north of Spencer and north of Lynch. Damaging wind destroyed a shed and blew over a windmill. Extensive damage was sustained by trees and the wind bent a metal flagpole until it was parallel with the ground.
July 2002HailSpencer$15,000Hail ranged from nickel to golfball size.
July 1999HailSpencer$10,000Softball sized hail did extensive damage to area crops.
May 2002HailSpencer$8,000no account filed
July 1999Thunderstorm WindSpencer$4,000Damaging thunderstorm wind overturned a semi-trailer rig. The wind caused extensive tree damage along the path of the storm.
May 2004HailSpencer$2,000no account filed
July 2024HailSpencer-Delayed report with time estimated from radar.
August 2020Thunderstorm WindSpencer-Received a report of 60 mph wind gust.
July 2019HailSpencer-Law enforcement reported quarter size hail.
August 2019Thunderstorm WindSpencer-Report of large branches down.
July 2017Thunderstorm WindSpencer-Public reported a large tree branch down, estimating wind gusts to 60 mph near Spencer.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindSpencer-Public reported a large pine tree snapped in half approximately 10 to 15 feet off the ground, at the national cemetery west of Spencer. A picture was provided via social media.
July 2005Thunderstorm WindSpencer-Power poles and trees were broken as winds from a bow echo slammed into the area. A semi tractor trailer was blown into a greenhouse in Spencer. The storm also moved across Holt, Rock, Brown, Keya Paha, and Cherry counties.
August 1997HailSpencer-Hail ranging in size from marbles to tennis balls battered crops and grassland in the area.
July 2024HailSpencer-no account filed
August 2022HailSpencer-no account filed
June 2020HailSpencer-no account filed
September 2019HailSpencer-no account filed
September 2019HailSpencer-no account filed
June 2017HailSpencer-no account filed
June 2010HailSpencer-no account filed
June 2010HailSpencer-no account filed
June 2010HailSpencer-no account filed
August 2008HailSpencer-no account filed
June 2008HailSpencer-no account filed
June 2007Thunderstorm WindSpencer-no account filed
July 2006HailSpencer-no account filed
July 2005HailSpencer-no account filed
July 2005HailSpencer-no account filed
April 2004HailSpencer-no account filed
April 2004HailSpencer-no account filed
May 2004HailSpencer-no account filed
May 2003HailSpencer-no account filed
May 2003HailSpencer-no account filed
July 2001HailSpencer-no account filed
September 2001HailSpencer-no account filed
June 1996HailSpencer-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Boyd 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
Rosedale (historical)6.3 miles9
Bristow6.6 miles11
Baker (historical)8.1 miles9
Butte8.2 miles9
Gross8.5 miles9
Anoka8.5 miles9
Lynch12.8 miles11
Monowi19.9 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 SpencerAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q3287888The 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 833647. 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.