Big Stone County, Minnesota: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Big Stone County, Minnesota has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 8.5 out of 100, higher than about 8% of US counties, with cold waves, winter storms and hail scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $4.4 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 18 federal disaster declarations that included Big Stone County since 1969, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4722-MN (Severe Storms and Flooding, declared 19 July 2023). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 13 tornadoes touching Big Stone County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Minnesota All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 5,166 Buildings worth $1.9 billion Area 533 sq mi Risk rank in Minnesota 78 of 87 FIPS 27011
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 Low | 62.5 | $1.6 million | about 14 a year | 266 |
| Winter weather | Relatively Moderate | 62.3 | $99,012 | about 21 a year | 391 |
| Hail | Relatively Low | 47.9 | $242,836 | about 3.8 a year | 145 |
| Ice storm | Relatively Low | 37.6 | $47,925 | about once every 2.4 years | 28 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 33.8 | $420 | about once every 19 years | — |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 32.0 | $16,433 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Heat wave | Very Low | 30.7 | $143,385 | about 2.6 a year | 40 |
| Drought | Very Low | 23.9 | $9,931 | about 3.3 a year | 147 |
| Tornado | Very Low | 23.3 | $318,746 | about once every 2.8 years | 14 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Low | 20.8 | $191,924 | about 2.8 a year | 105 |
| Inland flooding | Very Low | 13.6 | $1.7 million | about once every 1.9 years | 15 |
| Lightning | Very Low | 6.5 | $21,013 | about 33 a year | 34,029 strikes |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 5.7 | $5,670 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Avalanche | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| 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 18
Most common: Flood 9, Severe Storm 6, Hurricane 1, Snowstorm 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 1 | Flood |
| 1970s | 1 | Drought |
| 1990s | 5 | Flood ×2, Severe Storm ×2, Snowstorm |
| 2000s | 3 | Severe Storm, Hurricane, Flood |
| 2010s | 5 | Flood ×4, Severe Storm |
| 2020s | 3 | Severe Storm ×2, Flood |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Big Stone County
- Hurricane Katrina Evacuation (2005, EM-3242-MN): 87 Minnesota counties designated.
- Drought (1976, EM-3013-MN): 78 Minnesota counties designated.
- Flooding (1969, DR-255-MN): 70 Minnesota 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. Minnesota also had 9 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 13
| Tornadoes touching the county | 13 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F2 ×1 |
| Peak month | October (5) |
| Deadliest | — |
| Longest path | 30 May 2022, EF1, 2.4 mi path |
| Most recent | 30 May 2022, EF1, 2.4 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 0 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 9 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
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 Big Stone County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Stone County (this page) | — | Very Low | 8.5 | Cold wave |
| Stevens County | 37 km | Very Low | 7.0 | Winter weather |
| Traverse County | 39 km | Very Low | 6.2 | Hail |
| Grant County, SD | 40 km | Very Low | 18.9 | Cold wave |
| Roberts County, SD | 47 km | Very Low | 37.8 | Winter weather |
| Lac qui Parle County | 51 km | Very Low | 18.8 | Cold wave |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Minnesota, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Low 38.2 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively High 77.0 |
| Community risk factor | 1.03 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $4.4 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 Big Stone County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Minnesota · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Cold wave: Carbon monoxide in winter · Power outages now
- Winter weather: Power outages now · Carbon monoxide in winter
- Hail: Weather alerts for Minnesota
- 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 Big Stone County
What natural disasters is Big Stone County, Minnesota most at risk from?
Big Stone County, Minnesota has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 8.5 out of 100, higher than about 8% of US counties, with cold waves, winter storms and hail scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $4.4 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Big Stone County had?
OpenFEMA lists 18 federal disaster declarations that included Big Stone County since 1969, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4722-MN (Severe Storms and Flooding, declared 19 July 2023). Another 9 Minnesota declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Big Stone County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 13 tornadoes touching Big Stone 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.