Ramsey County, Minnesota: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Ramsey County, Minnesota has a Relatively High natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 94.6 out of 100, higher than about 94% of US counties, with cold waves, hail and tornadoes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $181 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 17 federal disaster declarations that included Ramsey County since 1965, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4442-MN (Severe Winter Storm, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding, declared 12 June 2019). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 10 tornadoes touching Ramsey County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 552,246 Buildings worth $112 billion Area 172 sq mi Risk rank in Minnesota 2 of 87 FIPS 27123
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 | Very High | 99.1 | $43 million | about 8.8 a year | 168 |
| Hail | Relatively High | 99.0 | $12 million | about 6.3 a year | 240 |
| Tornado | Relatively High | 98.7 | $36 million | about once every 8.0 years | 10 |
| Landslide | Relatively High | 98.5 | $979,949 | about once every 17 years | — |
| Heat wave | Relatively High | 98.2 | $17 million | about 6.7 a year | 99 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively High | 93.8 | $69 million | about once every 1.4 years | 20 |
| Winter weather | Relatively High | 92.2 | $531,878 | about 17 a year | 314 |
| Strong wind | Relatively High | 90.8 | $2.4 million | about 4.6 a year | 174 |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | 73.1 | $609,925 | about 36 a year | 299,790 strikes |
| Ice storm | Relatively Moderate | 65.3 | $188,692 | about once every 2.2 years | 32 |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 52.6 | $60,045 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 28.9 | $73,002 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Drought | Very Low | 12.8 | $11 | about 2.6 a year | 126 |
| 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 17
Most common: Flood 9, Severe Storm 5, Hurricane 1, Tornado 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 2 | Flood ×2 |
| 1970s | 2 | Severe Storm, Drought |
| 1980s | 1 | Severe Storm |
| 1990s | 4 | Severe Storm ×2, Tornado, Flood |
| 2000s | 3 | Hurricane, Flood, Severe Storm |
| 2010s | 5 | Flood ×5 |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Ramsey 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 10
| Tornadoes touching the county | 10 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F4 ×1 |
| Peak month | May (3) |
| Deadliest | 6 May 1965, F4, 17.3 mi path, 6 killed, 158 injured |
| Longest path | 6 May 1965, F4, 17.3 mi path, 6 killed, 158 injured |
| Most recent | 27 Aug 2022, EF0, 3.5 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 9 / 341 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 2 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
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 Ramsey County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ramsey County (this page) | — | Relatively High | 94.6 | Cold wave |
| Washington County | 17 km | Relatively Moderate | 83.9 | Strong wind |
| Hennepin County | 30 km | Relatively High | 98.3 | Cold wave |
| Anoka County | 31 km | Relatively Moderate | 88.0 | Strong wind |
| Dakota County | 38 km | Relatively Moderate | 89.5 | Strong wind |
| St. Croix County, WI | 51 km | Relatively Low | 64.1 | Strong wind |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Minnesota, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Low 27.4 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very High 93.5 |
| Community risk factor | 0.94 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $181 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 Ramsey 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
- Hail: Weather alerts for Minnesota
- Tornado: Is there a tornado warning 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 Ramsey County
What natural disasters is Ramsey County, Minnesota most at risk from?
Ramsey County, Minnesota has a Relatively High natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 94.6 out of 100, higher than about 94% of US counties, with cold waves, hail and tornadoes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $181 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Ramsey County had?
OpenFEMA lists 17 federal disaster declarations that included Ramsey County since 1965, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4442-MN (Severe Winter Storm, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding, declared 12 June 2019). Another 9 Minnesota declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Ramsey County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 10 tornadoes touching Ramsey County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 6 May 1965, F4, 17.3 mi path, 6 killed, 158 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.