Northwest Arctic Borough, Alaska: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Northwest Arctic Borough, Alaska has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 54.6 out of 100, higher than about 54% of US counties, with cold waves, landslides and winter storms scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $9.9 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 5 federal disaster declarations that included Northwest Arctic Borough since 1994, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4893-AK (Severe Storms, Flooding, and Remnants of Typhoon Halong, declared 22 October 2025). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has no tornado on record touching Northwest Arctic Borough from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Alaska All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 7,726 Buildings worth $1.4 billion Area 41,030 sq mi Risk rank in Alaska 10 of 30 FIPS 02188
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cold wave | Relatively High | 97.3 | $9.1 million | about 9.8 a year | 165 |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | 86.1 | $18,975 | about once every 1.6 years | — |
| Winter weather | Relatively Moderate | 78.6 | $106,766 | about 22 a year | 368 |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 65.7 | $343,270 | about once every 37 years | — |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | 65.7 | $68,544 | about once every 654 years | — |
| Avalanche | Very Low | 62.6 | $1,053 | about once every 100 years | 0 |
| Volcanic activity | Very Low | 29.3 | $1 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | 1 |
| Ice storm | Very Low | 6.6 | $1,769 | about once every 67 years | 0 |
| Lightning | Very Low | 5.1 | $9,011 | about 16 a year | 14,309 strikes |
| Inland flooding | Very Low | 3.4 | $302,015 | about once every 100 years | 0 |
| Tornado | Very Low | 0.5 | — | rarer than once in 1,000 years | 0 |
| Coastal flooding | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | — |
| Drought | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | 0 |
| Hail | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | 0 |
| Strong wind | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | 0 |
| Heat wave | Insufficient Data | — | — | — | — |
| Hurricane | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Tsunami | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
Score: FEMA's percentile among US counties that face the hazard (higher = more risk). Expected loss: FEMA's modelled average yearly loss to buildings, people (as a statistical value) and crops. How often: FEMA's annualised frequency of the hazard in the county; for some hazards it counts event-days, so it is a rough guide, not a forecast. "Not Applicable" means FEMA does not model that hazard here.
Federal disaster declarations 5
Most common: Severe Storm 4, Flood 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 1 | Severe Storm |
| 2000s | 2 | Severe Storm ×2 |
| 2020s | 2 | Flood, Severe Storm |
The last 5
Widest declarations that included Northwest Arctic Borough
- Severe Storms, Flooding, and Remnants of Typhoon Halong (2025, DR-4893-AK): 6 Alaska counties designated.
- Severe Winter Storm, Tidal Surges and Flooding (2004, DR-1571-AK): 5 Alaska counties designated.
- Severe Fall Storm, Tidal Surges, and Flooding (2005, DR-1618-AK): 4 Alaska counties designated.
Named storms in its declarations: Typhoon Halong (2025).
Not counted above: 2 COVID-19 ("Biological") declarations — in 2020 every US county was included. Alaska also had 24 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 0
No tornado in NOAA's Storm Prediction Center record touched Northwest Arctic Borough between 1950 and 2025. That does not mean one cannot happen.
How Northwest Arctic Borough compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northwest Arctic Borough (this page) | — | Relatively Low | 54.6 | Cold wave |
| Nome Census Area | 308 km | Very Low | 34.1 | Cold wave |
| North Slope Borough | 359 km | Very Low | 14.8 | Cold wave |
| Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area | 411 km | Relatively Low | 61.5 | Cold wave |
| Kusilvak Census Area | 575 km | Relatively Low | 57.9 | Cold wave |
| Denali Borough | 587 km | Very Low | 28.3 | Avalanche |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Alaska, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Very High 99.8 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very Low 5.9 |
| Community risk factor | 1.90 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $9.9 million |
FEMA scales expected losses up where social vulnerability is high (people who may find it harder to prepare, evacuate or recover) and down where community resilience is high. A factor above 1 raises the risk score. For social vulnerability a high rating is worse; for resilience a high rating is better.
Prepare for Northwest Arctic Borough's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Alaska · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Cold wave: Carbon monoxide in winter · Power outages now
- Landslide: Landslides recorded
- Winter weather: Power outages now · Carbon monoxide in winter
- Your property's flood zone: FEMA Flood Map Service Center ↗ — this page cannot tell you that.
- Official preparedness guidance: Ready.gov ↗ and your county emergency management office.
What this page shows, and what it misses
FEMA's National Risk Index rates a whole county against every other US county; it is a planning-level estimate for nationwide comparison, not a flood-zone map and not a substitute for a local risk assessment or the risk to one home. Declarations are presidential disaster, emergency and fire management declarations that named this county; state declarations and SBA or USDA designations are not included. Tornadoes are counted when the county is one of up to four listed on the track; 670 tornadoes that crossed a state line carry no county list in NOAA's file and are left out.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), National Risk Index Dataset: National Risk Index Counties - v1.20.0 (December 2025). Retrieved from https://services.arcgis.com/XG15cJAlne2vxtgt/ArcGIS/rest/services/National_Risk_Index_Counties/FeatureServer/0/query on November 2, 2026, 1:20 PM EST. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Risk Index dataset API or downloadable datasets but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), OpenFEMA Dataset: Disaster Declarations Summaries - v2, retrieved from https://www.fema.gov/api/open/v2/DisasterDeclarationsSummaries on November 2, 2026, 1:21 PM EST. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
Tornado records: NOAA/NWS Storm Prediction Center, Severe Weather Database, tornadoes 1950–2025 (https://www.spc.noaa.gov/wcm/data/1950-2025_actual_tornadoes.csv, downloaded 2 November 2026). Public domain; not endorsed by NOAA. Compiled by Global Incident Tracker.
Questions about Northwest Arctic Borough
What natural disasters is Northwest Arctic Borough, Alaska most at risk from?
Northwest Arctic Borough, Alaska has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 54.6 out of 100, higher than about 54% of US counties, with cold waves, landslides and winter storms scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $9.9 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Northwest Arctic Borough had?
OpenFEMA lists 5 federal disaster declarations that included Northwest Arctic Borough since 1994, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4893-AK (Severe Storms, Flooding, and Remnants of Typhoon Halong, declared 22 October 2025). Another 24 Alaska declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Northwest Arctic Borough?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has no tornado on record touching Northwest Arctic Borough from 1950 to 2025.
Is the National Risk Index a flood zone map?
No. The National Risk Index is a planning-level estimate for a whole county, built for nationwide comparison. It does not tell you the flood zone or the risk of a single property: for that, look up the address on FEMA's Flood Map Service Center (msc.fema.gov) and ask your local floodplain manager.