Chouteau County, Montana: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Chouteau County, Montana has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 39.5 out of 100, higher than about 39% of US counties, with avalanches, cold waves and wildfires scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $9.9 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 8 federal disaster declarations that included Chouteau County since 1986, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4801-MT (Severe Winter Storm and Flooding, declared 18 July 2024). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 17 tornadoes touching Chouteau County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 5,879 Buildings worth $4.4 billion Area 4,037 sq mi Risk rank in Montana 25 of 56 FIPS 30015
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 Moderate | 82.5 | $456,667 | about once every 30 years | 1 |
| Cold wave | Relatively Moderate | 81.3 | $3.2 million | about 9.1 a year | 173 |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | 72.6 | $172,490 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Winter weather | Relatively Moderate | 70.4 | $106,047 | about 29 a year | 546 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Low | 50.4 | $5.4 million | about once every 3.5 years | 8 |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 49.5 | $112,913 | about 65 a year | 1,785 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 46.9 | $913 | about 1.2 a year | — |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | 43.9 | $150,939 | about 24 a year | 37,412 strikes |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 27.1 | $44,728 | about once every 917 years | — |
| Heat wave | Very Low | 16.4 | $34,730 | about 1.4 a year | 22 |
| Tornado | Very Low | 11.9 | $72,801 | about once every 4.0 years | 12 |
| Ice storm | Very Low | 10.4 | $4,325 | about once every 67 years | 0 |
| Strong wind | Very Low | 9.9 | $57,859 | about once every 1.2 years | 31 |
| Hail | Very Low | 8.9 | $21,231 | about once a year | 37 |
| 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 8
Most common: Severe Storm 4, Flood 2, Hurricane 1, Fire 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 1 | Flood |
| 1990s | 1 | Severe Storm |
| 2000s | 2 | Hurricane, Fire |
| 2010s | 3 | Severe Storm ×2, Flood |
| 2020s | 1 | Severe Storm |
The last 8
Widest declarations that included Chouteau County
- Hurricane Katrina Evacuation (2005, EM-3253-MT): 56 Montana counties designated.
- Severe Storms and Flooding (2011, DR-1996-MT): 49 Montana counties designated.
- Wildfires (2000, DR-1340-MT): 48 Montana 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. Montana also had 18 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 17
| Tornadoes touching the county | 17 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F3 ×3 |
| Peak month | June (8) |
| Deadliest | 10 Jul 1965, F1, 0.2 mi path, 0 killed, 5 injured |
| Longest path | 5 Jul 1988, F3, 12 mi path |
| Most recent | 23 Jun 2018, EF0, 1.4 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 7 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 10 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 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 Chouteau County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chouteau County (this page) | — | Very Low | 39.5 | Avalanche |
| Hill County | 87 km | Relatively Low | 50.4 | Cold wave |
| Liberty County | 87 km | Very Low | 6.3 | Cold wave |
| Cascade County | 93 km | Relatively Moderate | 83.1 | Winter weather |
| Judith Basin County | 94 km | Very Low | 5.5 | Wildfire |
| Fergus County | 114 km | Relatively Low | 45.1 | Cold wave |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Montana, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively High 65.4 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively Low 24.9 |
| Community risk factor | 1.29 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $9.9 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 Chouteau County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Montana · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Avalanche: Official warnings now
- Cold wave: Carbon monoxide in winter · Power outages now
- 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 Chouteau County
What natural disasters is Chouteau County, Montana most at risk from?
Chouteau County, Montana has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 39.5 out of 100, higher than about 39% of US counties, with avalanches, cold waves and wildfires scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $9.9 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Chouteau County had?
OpenFEMA lists 8 federal disaster declarations that included Chouteau County since 1986, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4801-MT (Severe Winter Storm and Flooding, declared 18 July 2024). Another 18 Montana declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Chouteau County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 17 tornadoes touching Chouteau County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 10 Jul 1965, F1, 0.2 mi path, 0 killed, 5 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.