Fascinating Facts Grand Island
Though Grand Island is a fairly small town, it is by no means devoid of interesting facts and history. In fact, Grand Island has won the National Civic League's All-American City Award three times. In this post, we'll offer some fascinating facts about the city, including demographic and climate information as well as a synopsis of the city's biggest attraction.
Grand Island Climate
The average high July temperature in Grand Island is 87.1 degrees, compared with 32.6 degrees in January. The city's record low is -28 degrees, set in January, and the record high is 110 degrees, set in August. Typically, May is the rainiest month of the year, receiving an average of 4.07 inches of precipitation. Geographically speaking, Grand Island is unique in two respects. For one, the city has a total area of 21.6 square miles, 21.5 square miles of which are land. The city has just 0.1 square miles of water. Secondly, Grand Island has a remarkably flat topography. City officials report that Grand Island is actually flatter than a tournament pool table.
Crime Rates
With regard to crime rates, Grand Island is somewhat of a paradox. Crime ratings for Grand Island indicate that the city has a stunningly low rate of violent crime, about half of the national average. On the other hand, Grand Island's property crime rate is 1.44 times the national average, mainly due to its elevated theft rates. The larceny or theft rate for the city is a whopping 1.8 times the national average.
1980 Tornado Outbreak & Tornado Hill
On June 3, 1980, Grand Island, NE was hit by a colossal supercell storm. That night, during what became known as the 1980 Grand Island Tornado Outbreak, seven tornadoes ravaged the city. Five people were killed and another 200 were injured. The worst of the seven tornadoes ranked as an F4 on the Fujita Scale. The event was so momentous that a semi-fictionalized account of the evening was made into a book and served as the inspiration for a 1996 ABC Family made-for-TV movie.
Grand Island's most famous attraction, Tornado Hill, is actually an artificial hill created to conceal a hole dug to bury burnt debris from the 1980 tornado outbreak. After incinerating the massive amounts of debris, the city dug the hole and buried the ashes of the destruction in it. The dirt that was dug out of the hole was then piled on top of the ashes. Tornado Hill is located in Ryder Park in west-central Grand Island.
All in all, Grand Island is a beautiful place to live and quite safe compared to other cities across the nation. Once you get your life insurance policy to ensure your family will be taken care of when you're gone, there will be little else to worry about in Grand Island.
