BlockBefore

Surprise, Nebraska

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1899 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Read Township. It lies in ZIP code area 68667. The Survey maps it on the Surprise quadrangle. 37 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,578 feet above sea level.

Surprise within Butler County

On record in Surprise

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 2 records

Population over time

2 figures

Surprise fell from 43 to 37 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
201043
202037-6 (-14%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 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

2 since 2009

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Surprise between 2009 and 2012, burning about 16 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 burning1
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
22 April 2009Debris and open burning1.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
13 March 2012Equipment and vehicle use15 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named

Every fire recorded in Butler County

Storms near this place

31 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Surprise in 31 storm reports between 1997 and 2024: 9 flood, 8 thunderstorm wind, 8 hail, 3 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
September 2014FloodSurprise$5,000The Big Blue River rose above flood stage on the evening of the 11th, and then crested in the early morning on the 12th before falling below flood stage later on the same day. The flooding was minor and confined to low-lying areas along the river.
June 1997Thunderstorm WindSurprise$3,000no account filed
July 2011FloodSurprise$1,000Rainfall of 3 to 5 inches fell across sections of the upper Big Blue River west of Surprise. The heavy rain caused the Big Blue River near Surprise to exceed its 7 foot flood stage for a little over 24 hours. The flooding affected mainly agricultural lowlands along the river.
May 2011FloodSurprise$1,000Rainfall of around 3 inches in several hours caused flooding along the upper reaches of the Big Blue River near Surprise. The river near Surprise crested at little over 8 feet a little before midnight CST on the 12th, flood stage is 7 feet. Flooding mainly affected agricultural lowlands but also flooded a county road or two in the area.
May 2011Flash FloodSurprise$1,000Heavy rain, around 3 inches in a few hours in the Surprise area, caused the Big Blue River and some small tributaries to flood in the Surprise area. The flooding mainly affected agricultural lowlands, but a few roads were also flooded for a bit.
July 2024FloodSurprise-Flooding from excessive rain runoff was noted at the Surprise river gauge (SRPN1) along the Big Blue River in southwestern Butler county. The river gauge crested at 2 am CST on the 2nd at a height of 7.57 feet. Flood stage continued until 2 am CST on the 4th.
October 2023Thunderstorm WindSurprise-Emergency Manager relayed a report of a center pivot that had flipped in the storm. The time was estimated by radar.
October 2023Thunderstorm WindSurprise-Emergency Manager reported a roof ripped off of a shed. The time was estimated by radar.
June 2020Thunderstorm WindSurprise-Public reported damage to agriculture buildings on farm.
May 2019Heavy RainSurprise-Measured 3.0 inches of rain in Surprise in 24 hours.
May 2019Heavy RainSurprise-Overnight rainfall of 2.78 inches.
May 2016FloodSurprise-Minor flooding was observed along the Big Blue River near the city of Surprise. The river crested at 9 feet on the 14th. This led the flooding of agricultural land along the river, as well as Country Road 24 1/2 downstream of Surprise.
July 2014HailSurprise-A trained spotter just north of the town of Surprise reported hail up to baseball size. The hail continued south into town where reports of golf ball to hen egg size hail were reported.
May 2013Thunderstorm WindSurprise-Center pivot was flipped over and a grain bin was damaged.
May 2011HailSurprise-Golf ball-size hail fell near Surprise from the first of 2 supercell thunderstorms that hit the area within an hour and half or so. The hail from the storms covered the ground several inches deep that stayed on the ground for a few hours.
May 2011Flash FloodSurprise-Several slow moving thunderstorms crossed the Surprise area dropping around 2 to 3 inches of rain in a few hours. This produced flash flooding over at least one road in or near Surprise. Damage due to flooding was minimal, however. The storms also dropped large hail in the region and a funnel or possible brief tornado.
May 2011Heavy RainSurprise-Rainfall of close to 3 inches fell in a few hour period in the Surprise area. The rain caused flash flooding along parts of the upper reaches of the Big Blue River.
June 2008FloodSurprise-Heavy rain producing thunderstorms that tracked across the Big Blue River basin on June 4th caused the Big Blue River to flood from near Surprise downstream into Seward county south of Ulysses for the second time in a week. This time the crest was much higher and the water remained above flood stage longer due to additional heavy rain producing thunderstorms from June 5th through early on the 8th. The flooding from this event began during the early morning hours of June 5th and in Butler county it continued into the early morning hours of June 11th. The river at Surprise reached a crest of 11.3 feet around 7pm CDT on June 5th, flood stage is 7 feet. The flooding closed many county roads and a few highway spurs from near Surprise downstream through Ulysses. The flooding around Ulysses hampered tornado cleanup. Farmland was also flooded. The North Branch of the Big Blue River also flooded for a while on June 5, which caused the closure of Highway 92 between northbound Highway 15 and northbound Highway 81.
June 2008FloodSurprise-This flooding event along the Big Blue River continued from late May when heavy rainfall during the evening of May 29th caused the Big Blue River to flood from near Surprise downstream into Seward county south of Ulysses. The flooding began during the early morning hours of May 30th and in Butler county it continued into the late morning hours of June 1st. The river at Surprise reached a crest of 7.7 feet at 915pm CDT on May 31st, flood stage is 7 feet. The flooding affected mainly just agricultural lowlands.
May 2008FloodSurprise-Heavy rainfall during the evening of May 29th caused the Big Blue River to flood from near Surprise downstream into Seward county south of Ulysses. The flooding began during the early morning hours of May 30th and in Butler county it continued into the late morning hours of June 1st. The river at Surprise reached a crest of 7.7 feet at 915pm CDT on May 31st, flood stage is 7 feet. The flooding affected mainly just agricultural lowlands, but a few county roads were flooded.
June 2008HailSurprise-A few hailstones approached baseball-size in the Surprise area which busted a few windshields. The hail was from the same supercell thunderstorm that produced a tornado in the Ulysses area.
August 2007FloodSurprise-Flooding was observed along the Big Blue River from near Surprise to around Ulysses. The flooding closed a few county roads and also flooded some agricultural lowlands.||The Big Blue River at Surprise was above its 7 foot flood stage from around 445 am CDT on 8/8 until 345 am on 8/11. The river crested just under 9.5 feet around 1130 pm CDT on 8/9, but observed a 12-18 hour high water flow of around 9.3 to 9.5 feet centered on that time.
May 2006Thunderstorm WindSurprise-Thunderstorm winds were estimated at 60 mph by a trained spotter near Surprise.
May 2006Thunderstorm WindSurprise-Spotters estimated thunderstorm winds gusted to 65 mph east of town.
September 2006Thunderstorm WindSurprise-A downburst that encompassed the Surprise tornado this evening had a footprint that was approximately 10 miles long by 3 miles wide. A NWS storm survey estimated that wind speeds were around 80 mph with a maximum gust of possibly up to 100 mph which snapped several power poles. In addition to the snapped poles the downburst winds flipped several center pivots, damaged trees, flattened crops and cause minor to moderate structual damage throughout a 28 square mile area.
September 2006Tornado (F2)Surprise-A tornado did extensive tree damage and some structual damage throughout the town of Surprise including destroying a mobile home and tearing the roof off of a bar. The tornado was embedded in a larger downburst area that did damage over a 28 square mile area surrounding Surprise according a NWS storm survey. The tornado was rated an F2 in Surprise, where it initially touched down, and then weakened and lifted a few minutes later 1 mile northeast of town.
May 2011HailSurprise-no account filed
May 2003HailSurprise-no account filed
April 2002HailSurprise-no account filed
July 2002HailSurprise-no account filed
June 1999HailSurprise-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Butler 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
Ulysses6.3 miles11
Rising City6.3 miles11
Millerton7.4 miles11
Garrison9.0 miles11
David City13.8 miles11
Dwight15.5 miles11
Bellwood16.6 miles11
Brainard17.1 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 SurpriseAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q586043The 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 833956. 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.