San Miguel County, Colorado: Natural Disaster Risk and History
San Miguel County, Colorado has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 19.1 out of 100, higher than about 19% of US counties, with avalanches, landslides and wildfires scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $10 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 7 federal disaster declarations that included San Miguel 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 has no tornado on record touching San Miguel County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Colorado All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 8,002 Buildings worth $3.3 billion Area 1,302 sq mi Risk rank in Colorado 44 of 64 FIPS 08113
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avalanche | Relatively High | 93.7 | $3.5 million | about once a year | 30 |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | 86.3 | $50,504 | about once every 1.3 years | — |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | 80.1 | $582,243 | about once every 549 years | — |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | 56.0 | $408,351 | about 57 a year | 44,459 strikes |
| Winter weather | Relatively Low | 43.7 | $73,763 | about 21 a year | 402 |
| Inland flooding | Very Low | 31.6 | $5.2 million | about 1.2 a year | 34 |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 31.4 | $123,282 | about once every 654 years | — |
| Drought | Very Low | 23.5 | $12,850 | about 83 a year | 2,324 |
| Heat wave | Very Low | 7.2 | $15,007 | about once every 4.0 years | 2.4 |
| Ice storm | Very Low | 5.3 | $3,482 | about once every 67 years | 0 |
| Tornado | Very Low | 3.4 | $12,982 | about once every 42 years | 0 |
| Cold wave | Very Low | 3.2 | $910 | about once every 457 years | 0 |
| Strong wind | Very Low | 2.3 | $15,406 | about once every 9.3 years | 5 |
| Hail | Very Low | 1.6 | $2,861 | about once every 8.8 years | 4.3 |
| 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 San Miguel 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 0
No tornado in NOAA's Storm Prediction Center record touched San Miguel County between 1950 and 2025. That does not mean one cannot happen.
How San Miguel County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Miguel County (this page) | — | Very Low | 19.1 | Avalanche |
| Dolores County | 30 km | Very Low | 11.3 | Landslide |
| Montrose County | 46 km | Relatively Low | 49.0 | Lightning |
| Ouray County | 58 km | Very Low | 17.7 | Landslide |
| San Juan County | 69 km | Very Low | 10.7 | Avalanche |
| Montezuma County | 76 km | Relatively Low | 47.6 | Wildfire |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Colorado, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Very Low 10.6 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively Moderate 54.3 |
| Community risk factor | 0.74 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $10 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 San Miguel County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Colorado · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Avalanche: Official warnings now
- Landslide: Landslides recorded
- Wildfire: US wildfires now · Wildfire smoke: what protects you
- 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 San Miguel County
What natural disasters is San Miguel County, Colorado most at risk from?
San Miguel County, Colorado has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 19.1 out of 100, higher than about 19% of US counties, with avalanches, landslides and wildfires scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $10 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has San Miguel County had?
OpenFEMA lists 7 federal disaster declarations that included San Miguel 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 San Miguel County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has no tornado on record touching San Miguel 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.