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Stamford, Nebraska

13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1896 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Sappa Township. It lies in ZIP code area 68977. It stands on Twin Creek. The Survey maps it on the Stamford quadrangle. 158 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,047 feet above sea level.

Stamford within Harlan County

On record in Stamford

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 1 record

Population over time

2 figures

Stamford fell from 183 to 158 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
2010183
2020158-25 (-14%)

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

4 since 2009

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 4 fires within 5 miles of Stamford between 2009 and 2016, burning about 38 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 burning3
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
23 June 2016Equipment and vehicle use2.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
9 March 2009Debris and open burning30 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
18 March 2009Debris and open burning1.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
27 February 2016Debris and open burning5.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Harlan County

Storms near this place

33 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Stamford in 33 storm reports between 1996 and 2024: 20 hail, 5 thunderstorm wind, 4 tornado, 2 heavy rain. 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 2023HailStamford$1,000,000A cluster of thunderstorms sliding east just north of the Nebraska-Kansas state line produced widespread severe weather across central and southern portions of Harlan County. Hail generally up to the size of golf balls was reported across this area, though isolated larger hail also likely fell. Wind gusts were estimated to be anywhere from 60 to 70 MPH, resulting in numerous reports of tree damage, including whole trees snapped and larger limbs downed. A farm machine shed was destroyed between Stamford and Orleans. The wind-driven large hail resulted in widespread damage to crops, siding, windows, and vehicles.
June 2023Thunderstorm WindStamford$1,000,000A cluster of thunderstorms sliding east just north of the Nebraska-Kansas state line produced widespread severe weather across central and southern portions of Harlan County. Hail generally up to the size of golf balls was reported across this area, though isolated larger hail also likely fell. Wind gusts were estimated to be anywhere from 60 to 80 MPH, resulting in numerous reports of tree damage, including whole trees snapped and larger limbs downed. Outbuilding damage was reported near Alma. The wind-driven large hail resulted in widespread damage to crops, siding, windows, and vehicles.
June 2011Tornado (EF1)Stamford$250,000This tornado skipped along a path which started approximately 8 miles south of Stamford and ended approximately 4 miles north of Stamford. It was noted that this tornado was stationary and multi-vortex early on in its life, and as it shifted to the north destroyed an outbuilding, quonset, and grain bin. Numerous tree limbs were also knocked down. The maximum wind speed of this tornado was estimated to be 95 MPH.
July 2005HailStamford$250,000no account filed
June 2000Thunderstorm WindStamford$250,000no account filed
May 2004Tornado (F0)Stamford$150,000A tornado set down briefly in far southwest Franklin county near Stamford and damaged a mobile home and upset several irrigation systems.
March 2019HailStamford$100,000Hail along this path ranged from quarter to tennis ball size.
May 2019FloodStamford$100,000Numerous county roads across the area were impacted by heavy rainfall and the flooding of the Prairie Dog Creek. Bridges crossing the creek were under water. Prairie Dog Creek rising into minor flood stage is rare. The last time Prairie Dog Creek flooded at the Woodruff gauge was September of 1977. For this event, Prairie Dog Creek crested at 22.1 feet (flood stage is 21 feet), and that was the 6th highest crest on record.
June 2011HailStamford$100,000Hail up to the size of golf balls was reported, causing damage to area windows and crops.
May 2008Flash FloodStamford$50,000Numerous areas in Harlan County picked up 3 to 4 inches of rain. This caused many rural roads to flood.
June 2001HailStamford$10,000no account filed
August 1996Thunderstorm WindStamford$10,000no account filed
June 1998HailStamford$5,000no account filed
May 2008HailStamford$2,000no account filed
June 2024Thunderstorm WindStamford-A wind gust of 59 MPH was measured by a mesonet station located seven miles south-southeast of Stamford.
April 2022Tornado (EFU)Stamford-This tornado briefly touched down several miles south of Stamford. Location and time was approximated from reports and radar. No damage was reported.
August 2021Heavy RainStamford-A CoCoRaHS observer measured 6.16 of rain between 5 p.m. and midnight CDT.
August 2021Thunderstorm WindStamford-A wind gust of 65 MPH was recorded by a mesonet station located five miles northeast of Stamford.
May 2015Tornado (EF0)Stamford-This was a brief tornado that crossed Highway 89 between Stamford and Orleans. No damage was reported with this tornado.
June 2014Heavy RainStamford-A storm total rainfall amount of 3.07 inches was reported by an NeRAIN observer.
May 2023HailStamford-no account filed
April 2022HailStamford-no account filed
June 2020HailStamford-no account filed
May 2010HailStamford-no account filed
May 2010HailStamford-no account filed
June 2010HailStamford-no account filed
June 2010HailStamford-no account filed
August 2007HailStamford-no account filed
June 2005HailStamford-no account filed
August 1999HailStamford-no account filed
June 1999HailStamford-no account filed
June 1998HailStamford-no account filed
June 1997HailStamford-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Harlan 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
Flynn Junction4.1 miles13
Oxford Junction7.0 miles13
Orleans7.3 miles13
Mascot9.4 miles14
Alma12.5 miles13
Huntley16.8 miles13
Republican City19.9 miles13
Ragan20.2 miles13

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 StamfordAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q591415The 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 833760. 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.