Wilber, Nebraska
11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Wilber precinct. It lies in ZIP code area 68465. The Survey maps it on the Wilber quadrangle. 1,937 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,329 feet above sea level.
On record in Wilber
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 4 records
Hotel Wilberlisted 1978
Mann-Zwonecek Houselisted 1978
Saline County Courthouselisted 1990
Sokol Pavilionlisted 1998
Population over time
2 figuresWilber grew from 1,855 to 1,937 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 | 1,855 | |
| 2020 | 1,937 | +82 (+4%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 11 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.
- 1955 USGS Lincoln quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1957 USGS Lincoln quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Wilber quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Lincoln quadrangle1:250000
- 1986 USGS Beatrice quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
3 since 2009Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 3 fires within 5 miles of Wilber between 2009 and 2014, burning about 57 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 |
|---|---|
| Smoking | 1 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 1 |
| Debris and open burning | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 March 2014 | Smoking | 25 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 17 March 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 30 acres | Nebraska Forest Service | not named |
| 11 November 2011 | 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
60 of 76 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Wilber in 76 storm reports between 1996 and 2024: 46 hail, 24 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood, 1 lightning. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wilber | $125,000 | Thunderstorm wind gusts were measured at 66 mph by emergency management in Wilber. The winds destroyed a machine shed northeast of Wilber and caused some equipment damage at the Wilber-Claytonia High School. |
| August 2006 | Flash Flood | Wilber | $10,000 | Heavy rains produced flash flooding and washouts across several county roads southwest of Wilber. |
| May 2011 | Flood | Wilber | $5,000 | Rainfall of 3 to 4 inches during the evening and overnight hours of 5/19 and 5/20 over Saline county and upstream. This caused the Big Blue River to flood farmland and county roads around the Crete area. The river at Crete crested just under 20.5 feet in the morning of 5/22, flood stage is 18 feet. |
| May 2007 | Flash Flood | Wilber | $5,000 | Rainfall of another inch or two produced flash flooding of streets in the Wilber area. The rainfall was on top of the 2 to 4 inches which fell the previous day. |
| March 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wilber | $5,000 | Thunderstorm winds blew a machine shed over near Wilber. |
| April 2006 | Lightning | Wilber | $5,000 | Lightning struck a tree next to a home west of Wilber. The tree went through a living room window and split a couch in half. |
| April 2024 | Funnel Cloud | Wilber | - | A county official over NAWAS and law enforcement in Saline County reported a funnel cloud 1 mile northwest of Wilber, Nebraska. This funnel cloud was reported to have lasted until 4 miles NNE of Wilber. |
| May 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wilber | - | Straight-line winds that impacted the town of Wilbur just after 2 AM the morning of 5/24 resulted in shingles torn off of a roof and widespread tree damage in the town. |
| June 2020 | Hail | Wilber | - | A utility company reported hail up to the size of quarters. |
| June 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wilber | - | Two homes had damage from intense thunderstorm winds. One home had a large portion of it's roof removed by the intense winds and blown 150 yards downstream. |
| June 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wilber | - | A 64 mph wind gust was measured at Wilber. |
| June 2014 | Hail | Wilber | - | The hail broke windows, and put holes in the siding on many homes in the town. |
| October 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wilber | - | A measured wind gust to 65 mph was recorded in Wilber. The wind downed large tree branches in the city of Wilber. The wind also downed power poles to the west of Wilber that resulted in many rural electrical customers in Saline County to lose power. |
| October 2013 | Hail | Wilber | - | Several reports of large hail, some very large, were received from about 6 miles northeast of Western to in and around Wilber. Emergency management reported hail up to 2 inches in diameter from Wilber to near 6 miles west of Wilber, while a storm chaser reported hail to 2.75 inches in diameter to the northeast of Western to just north of Wilber. |
| May 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wilber | - | Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at around 60 mph downed a few large tree limbs onto a few streets in the Wilber area. |
| May 2011 | Hail | Wilber | - | The hail lasted several minutes and just followed thunderstorm wind gusts that were estimated at around 70 mph. |
| August 2011 | Hail | Wilber | - | Hail up to 1.5 inches in diameter fell around and just southeast of Wilber. |
| May 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wilber | - | A spotter in the Wilber area estimated that thunderstorm wind gusts approached 70 mph. The winds were accompanied by nickel-size hail. |
| August 2010 | Hail | Wilber | - | Hail up to half dollar-size fell in the Wilber area causing minor damage to several vehicles and a few roofs. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wilber | - | Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at over 60 mph downed large tree limbs and power lines in the area. The downed tree limbs closed several streets and knocked the power out for about 15 minutes. |
| June 2010 | Hail | Wilber | - | Hail up to nickel-size fell for several minutes around the Wilber area. |
| June 2010 | Heavy Rain | Wilber | - | Rainfall of 1.5 to 2 inches fell in an hour or less and caused some minor street flooding in town. |
| September 2010 | Hail | Wilber | - | Golf ball-size hail was reported in the Wilber area. |
| June 2009 | Hail | Wilber | - | Hail up to nickel size fell for at least 15 minutes in the area. |
| August 2009 | Hail | Wilber | - | Quarter to golf ball-size hail was reported from a few miles south of Wilber into town. The hail broke some windows on vehicles in the area. |
| August 2009 | Hail | Wilber | - | From another thunderstorm that developed on the west side of the storms that dropped hail up to golf ball size in and just south of Wilber about 15 minutes earlier. |
| August 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wilber | - | Thunderstorm winds estimated at 65 to 70 mph caused sporadic power outages near Wilber when the power pole a transformer was on snapped. Several large limbs were also downed in town. |
| May 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wilber | - | Thunderstorm winds estimated at over 60 mph downed large trees near Wilber and plastered buildings with leaves. |
| June 2008 | Hail | Wilber | - | Hail up to quarter size fell for several minutes in the Wilber area. |
| May 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wilber | - | Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at 60 to 70 mph broke large tree limbs in town and damaged several rural outbuildings. |
| August 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wilber | - | A long door on rollers at a grainery were blown off by thunderstorm winds estimated at 60 mph. |
| March 2006 | Hail | Wilber | - | Hail up to nickel size fell for a few minutes and was accompanied by strong winds. |
| June 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wilber | - | Emergency management recorded 69 mph winds associated with a thunderstorm. The wind was accompanied by hail a little over 1 inch in diameter and did damage to 30 homes in the area. |
| May 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wilber | - | Thunderstorm winds caused damage to parts of Wilber including knocking the power out and forcing the evacuation of the EOC. The winds were probably around 70 mph and were possibly due to the RFD of a large tornado that was passing just to the south of town around that time. |
| September 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wilber | - | Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at 60 mph downed numerous tree limbs in town. |
| August 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wilber | - | Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at around 70 mph downed numerous trees and large tree branches from Wilber to 2 miles northwest through 1 mile northeast of town. The Wilber Czech Cemetery had 25 trees that were either blown over or suffered significant limb damage. Sporadic power outages were also reported near town. Some minor street flooding also was reported as nearly 2 inches of rain accompanied the strong winds. |
| August 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wilber | - | Emergency management in Wilber measured a thunderstorm wind gust of 66 mph on home weather equipment. This was from a second round of thunderstorms that hit town within around a 15 minute period. |
| August 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wilber | - | Emergency management estimated thunderstorm wind gusts of 60 to 65 mph hit from 10 miles west of Wilber into the Wilber area. The winds snapped off a stop sign and destroyed a street light in Wilber and also caused power outages. |
| August 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wilber | - | A supercell thunderstorm produced wind gusts estimated at close to 70 mph from south of Wilber into the De Witt area. The winds broke large tree limbs and even downed a few trees. |
| August 2001 | Hail | Wilber | - | From the same storm that produced the wind damage. |
| September 2001 | Hail | Wilber | - | Hail from golfball size hail up to 3 inches in diameter fell from 2 miles west of Wilber into Wilber. |
| May 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wilber | - | Trees and large branches downed. |
| May 2017 | Hail | Wilber | - | no account filed |
| April 2017 | Hail | Wilber | - | no account filed |
| May 2016 | Hail | Wilber | - | no account filed |
| September 2015 | Hail | Wilber | - | no account filed |
| September 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wilber | - | no account filed |
| July 2014 | Hail | Wilber | - | no account filed |
| June 2014 | Hail | Wilber | - | no account filed |
| November 2013 | Hail | Wilber | - | no account filed |
| May 2010 | Hail | Wilber | - | no account filed |
| June 2009 | Hail | Wilber | - | no account filed |
| May 2007 | Hail | Wilber | - | no account filed |
| May 2007 | Hail | Wilber | - | no account filed |
| May 2007 | Hail | Wilber | - | no account filed |
| March 2006 | Hail | Wilber | - | no account filed |
| June 2006 | Hail | Wilber | - | no account filed |
| April 2005 | Hail | Wilber | - | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Hail | Wilber | - | no account filed |
| March 2004 | Hail | Wilber | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shestak | 6.0 miles | 15 | |
| De Witt | 6.4 miles | 11 | |
| Swanton | 9.5 miles | 10 | |
| Pleasant Hill | 9.7 miles | 14 | |
| Crete | 10.1 miles | 15 | |
| Berks | 12.5 miles | 15 | |
| Western | 14.0 miles | 10 | |
| Dorchester | 14.0 miles | 14 |
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 Wilber | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q954094 | 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 834704. 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.




