Yavapai County, Arizona: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Yavapai County, Arizona has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 93.7 out of 100, higher than about 93% of US counties, with wildfires, lightning and inland (river and flash) flooding scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $108 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 24 federal disaster declarations that included Yavapai County since 1977, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is FM-5435-AZ (Crooks Fire, declared 19 April 2022). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 29 tornadoes touching Yavapai County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Arizona All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 235,830 Buildings worth $50 billion Area 8,209 sq mi Risk rank in Arizona 6 of 15 FIPS 04025
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wildfire | Relatively High | 99.6 | $29 million | about once every 184 years | — |
| Lightning | Very High | 98.9 | $3.2 million | about 48 a year | 401,144 strikes |
| Inland flooding | Relatively High | 96.1 | $70 million | about 7.3 a year | 203 |
| Winter weather | Relatively High | 94.3 | $461,262 | about 4.5 a year | 85 |
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | 89.8 | $1.3 million | about once every 2.3 years | 16 |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 85.3 | $2.2 million | about once every 300 years | — |
| Heat wave | Relatively Moderate | 85.0 | $1.5 million | about 3.8 a year | 25 |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | 70.0 | $4,523 | about 4.4 a year | — |
| Volcanic activity | Very Low | 57.0 | $16 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | 2 |
| Avalanche | Very Low | 53.8 | $560 | about once every 100 years | 0 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Low | 41.5 | $323,458 | about once every 1.8 years | 22 |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | 32.7 | $451,087 | about once every 2.0 years | 19 |
| Drought | Very Low | 29.4 | $17,333 | about 68 a year | 2,989 |
| Cold wave | Very Low | 2.8 | $5 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | 0 |
| Hurricane | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | 0 |
| Coastal flooding | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Ice storm | 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 24
Most common: Fire 13, Flood 5, Severe Storm 4, Hurricane 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 2 | Flood, Drought |
| 1980s | 2 | Flood ×2 |
| 1990s | 2 | Flood ×2 |
| 2000s | 10 | Fire ×6, Severe Storm ×3, Hurricane |
| 2010s | 6 | Fire ×5, Severe Storm |
| 2020s | 2 | Fire ×2 |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Yavapai County
- Hurricane Katrina Evacuation (2005, EM-3241-AZ): 15 Arizona counties designated.
- Severe Storms, Tornadoes & Flooding (1993, DR-977-AZ): 13 Arizona counties designated.
- Severe Storms & Flooding (1983, DR-691-AZ): 11 Arizona counties designated.
Named storms in its declarations: Hurricane Katrina (2005).
Not counted above: 2 COVID-19 ("Biological") declarations — in 2020 every US county was included. Arizona also had 27 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 29
| Tornadoes touching the county | 29 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F3 ×1 |
| Peak month | July (7) |
| Deadliest | — |
| Longest path | 1 May 1980, F1, 26.5 mi path |
| Most recent | 6 May 2025, EF0, 0.1 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 0 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 24 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 3 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 5 |
Deaths and injuries are for each tornado's whole path, which can run beyond this county. F-scale ratings before February 2007, Enhanced Fujita (EF) after.
How Yavapai County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yavapai County (this page) | — | Relatively Moderate | 93.7 | Wildfire |
| Maricopa County | 139 km | Very High | 99.9 | Heat wave |
| Coconino County | 156 km | Relatively Moderate | 94.2 | Lightning |
| La Paz County | 163 km | Relatively Moderate | 83.5 | Inland flooding |
| Mohave County | 165 km | Relatively High | 94.8 | Wildfire |
| Gila County | 183 km | Relatively Moderate | 90.2 | Wildfire |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Arizona, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively High 73.0 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very Low 18.0 |
| Community risk factor | 1.39 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $108 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 Yavapai County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Arizona · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Wildfire: US wildfires now · Wildfire smoke: what protects you
- Lightning: Weather alerts for Arizona
- Inland flooding: Flood safety: why shallow water kills · Floods recorded
- 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 Yavapai County
What natural disasters is Yavapai County, Arizona most at risk from?
Yavapai County, Arizona has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 93.7 out of 100, higher than about 93% of US counties, with wildfires, lightning and inland (river and flash) flooding scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $108 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Yavapai County had?
OpenFEMA lists 24 federal disaster declarations that included Yavapai County since 1977, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is FM-5435-AZ (Crooks Fire, declared 19 April 2022). Another 27 Arizona declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Yavapai County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 29 tornadoes touching Yavapai County 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.