Montrose County, Colorado: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Montrose County, Colorado has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 49.0 out of 100, higher than about 49% of US counties, with lightning, landslides and avalanches scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $16 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 7 federal disaster declarations that included Montrose County since 1970, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is EM-3224-CO (Hurricane Katrina Evacuation, declared 5 September 2005). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 3 tornadoes touching Montrose County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 42,636 Buildings worth $9.8 billion Area 2,266 sq mi Risk rank in Colorado 24 of 64 FIPS 08085
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lightning | Relatively High | 87.5 | $1.0 million | about 53 a year | 105,704 strikes |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | 82.2 | $21,366 | about 1.4 a year | — |
| Avalanche | Relatively Moderate | 79.7 | $378,235 | about 1.1 a year | 32 |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | 78.6 | $353,647 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 77.3 | $1.3 million | about once every 578 years | — |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Low | 67.4 | $12 million | about 1.2 a year | 34 |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 58.4 | $253,948 | about 82 a year | 2,541 |
| Winter weather | Relatively Low | 45.0 | $54,188 | about 17 a year | 329 |
| Cold wave | Very Low | 19.9 | $219,187 | about once every 60 years | 0.3 |
| Ice storm | Very Low | 16.9 | $11,772 | about once every 67 years | 0 |
| Heat wave | Very Low | 15.7 | $39,015 | about once every 6.7 years | 1.6 |
| Strong wind | Very Low | 10.5 | $76,976 | about once every 4.9 years | 8 |
| Tornado | Very Low | 8.9 | $52,581 | about once every 19 years | 3 |
| Hail | Very Low | 7.1 | $20,100 | about once every 7.9 years | 4.8 |
| Coastal flooding | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Hurricane | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Tsunami | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Volcanic activity | 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 7
Most common: Flood 3, Fire 2, Coastal Storm 1, Drought 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 3 | Flood ×2, Drought |
| 1980s | 1 | Flood |
| 2000s | 3 | Fire ×2, Coastal Storm |
The last 7
Widest declarations that included Montrose County
- Hurricane Katrina Evacuation (2005, EM-3224-CO): 64 Colorado counties designated.
- Wildfires (2002, DR-1421-CO): 58 Colorado counties designated.
- Drought (1977, EM-3025-CO): 42 Colorado 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. Colorado also had 12 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 3
| Tornadoes touching the county | 3 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F1 ×3 |
| Peak month | May (2) |
| Deadliest | 6 May 2005, F1, 0.3 mi path, 0 killed, 1 injured |
| Longest path | 13 May 2004, F1, 0.7 mi path |
| Most recent | 4 Oct 2005, F1, 0.7 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 1 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
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 Montrose County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montrose County (this page) | — | Relatively Low | 49.0 | Lightning |
| San Miguel County | 46 km | Very Low | 19.1 | Avalanche |
| Ouray County | 52 km | Very Low | 17.7 | Landslide |
| Delta County | 62 km | Relatively Low | 51.3 | Landslide |
| Mesa County | 71 km | Relatively Low | 75.1 | Landslide |
| Dolores County | 76 km | Very Low | 11.3 | Landslide |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Colorado, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Low 37.5 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively Low 20.2 |
| Community risk factor | 1.05 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $16 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 Montrose County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Colorado · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Lightning: Weather alerts for Colorado
- Landslide: Landslides recorded
- Avalanche: Official warnings now
- 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 Montrose County
What natural disasters is Montrose County, Colorado most at risk from?
Montrose County, Colorado has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 49.0 out of 100, higher than about 49% of US counties, with lightning, landslides and avalanches scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $16 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Montrose County had?
OpenFEMA lists 7 federal disaster declarations that included Montrose County since 1970, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is EM-3224-CO (Hurricane Katrina Evacuation, declared 5 September 2005). Another 12 Colorado declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Montrose County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 3 tornadoes touching Montrose County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 6 May 2005, F1, 0.3 mi path, 0 killed, 1 injured (deaths and injuries are for the whole path).
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.