Mineral County, Montana: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Mineral County, Montana has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 7.3 out of 100, higher than about 7% of US counties, with landslides, wildfires and avalanches scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $3.2 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 8 federal disaster declarations that included Mineral County since 1974, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4902-MT (Severe Winter Storm and Straight-Line Winds, declared 7 April 2026). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has no tornado on record touching Mineral County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Montana All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 4,516 Buildings worth $1.2 billion Area 1,236 sq mi Risk rank in Montana 42 of 56 FIPS 30061
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Landslide | Relatively Moderate | 91.3 | $55,074 | about 1.1 a year | — |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | 85.6 | $603,261 | about once every 272 years | — |
| Avalanche | Relatively Moderate | 82.2 | $456,668 | about once every 30 years | 1 |
| Winter weather | Relatively Low | 53.5 | $59,944 | about 57 a year | 1,074 |
| Ice storm | Relatively Low | 38.5 | $40,620 | about once every 4.8 years | 15 |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 29.1 | $55,975 | about once every 488 years | — |
| Cold wave | Relatively Low | 26.8 | $299,304 | about 2.1 a year | 39 |
| Inland flooding | Very Low | 16.0 | $1.6 million | about once every 5.6 years | 5 |
| Heat wave | Very Low | 15.5 | $31,542 | about 2.2 a year | 29 |
| Drought | Very Low | 13.3 | $77 | about 26 a year | 840 |
| Lightning | Very Low | 5.8 | $15,328 | about 18 a year | 22,370 strikes |
| Strong wind | Very Low | 2.9 | $11,903 | about once every 4.1 years | 10 |
| Hail | Very Low | 1.3 | $1,283 | about once every 3.0 years | 13 |
| Tornado | Very Low | 1.3 | $1,063 | about once every 60 years | 0 |
| 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: Fire 4, Straight-Line Winds 1, Hurricane 1, Severe Storm 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 1 | Flood |
| 1990s | 1 | Severe Storm |
| 2000s | 4 | Fire ×3, Hurricane |
| 2010s | 1 | Fire |
| 2020s | 1 | Straight-Line Winds |
The last 8
Widest declarations that included Mineral County
- Hurricane Katrina Evacuation (2005, EM-3253-MT): 56 Montana counties designated.
- Wildfires (2000, DR-1340-MT): 48 Montana counties designated.
- Severe Winter Storm and Straight-Line Winds (2026, DR-4902-MT): 28 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 0
No tornado in NOAA's Storm Prediction Center record touched Mineral County between 1950 and 2025. That does not mean one cannot happen.
How Mineral County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mineral County (this page) | — | Very Low | 7.3 | Landslide |
| Sanders County | 60 km | Relatively Low | 47.4 | Landslide |
| Shoshone County, ID | 71 km | Relatively Low | 62.8 | Landslide |
| Clearwater County, ID | 73 km | Relatively Low | 46.9 | Landslide |
| Missoula County | 82 km | Relatively Low | 77.0 | Wildfire |
| Lake County | 88 km | Relatively Low | 67.7 | Winter weather |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Montana, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Moderate 59.2 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very Low 7.2 |
| Community risk factor | 1.26 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $3.2 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 Mineral County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Montana · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Landslide: Landslides recorded
- Wildfire: US wildfires now · Wildfire smoke: what protects you
- 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 Mineral County
What natural disasters is Mineral County, Montana most at risk from?
Mineral County, Montana has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 7.3 out of 100, higher than about 7% of US counties, with landslides, wildfires and avalanches scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $3.2 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Mineral County had?
OpenFEMA lists 8 federal disaster declarations that included Mineral County since 1974, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4902-MT (Severe Winter Storm and Straight-Line Winds, declared 7 April 2026). Another 18 Montana declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Mineral County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has no tornado on record touching Mineral 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.