Silver Bow County, Montana: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Silver Bow County, Montana has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 38.0 out of 100, higher than about 38% of US counties, with winter storms, landslides and earthquakes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $14 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 5 federal disaster declarations that included Silver Bow County since 1981, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is EM-3253-MT (Hurricane Katrina Evacuation, declared 13 September 2005). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has no tornado on record touching Silver Bow County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Montana All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 35,110 Buildings worth $8.1 billion Area 726 sq mi Risk rank in Montana 26 of 56 FIPS 30093
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter weather | Relatively High | 92.4 | $598,958 | about 45 a year | 854 |
| Landslide | Relatively Moderate | 90.4 | $71,832 | about once every 1.9 years | — |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 87.4 | $4.3 million | about once every 82 years | — |
| Cold wave | Relatively Moderate | 81.9 | $5.0 million | about 4.3 a year | 82 |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | 80.7 | $526,609 | about once every 699 years | — |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | 61.9 | $437,172 | about 35 a year | 78,382 strikes |
| Avalanche | Very Low | 43.0 | $379 | about once every 15 years | 2 |
| Hail | Very Low | 27.2 | $126,796 | about once every 1.7 years | 23 |
| Inland flooding | Very Low | 21.7 | $3.2 million | about once every 3.5 years | 8 |
| Drought | Very Low | 14.5 | $526 | about 91 a year | 2,324 |
| Heat wave | Very Low | 13.9 | $37,849 | about once every 3.8 years | 5 |
| Ice storm | Very Low | 13.5 | $9,721 | about once every 67 years | 0 |
| Strong wind | Very Low | 10.0 | $87,716 | about once every 3.2 years | 12 |
| Tornado | Very Low | 9.8 | $74,476 | about once every 50 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 5
Most common: Fire 2, Hurricane 1, Severe Storm 1, Flood 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 1 | Flood |
| 1990s | 1 | Severe Storm |
| 2000s | 3 | Fire ×2, Hurricane |
The last 5
Widest declarations that included Silver Bow County
- Hurricane Katrina Evacuation (2005, EM-3253-MT): 56 Montana counties designated.
- Wildfires (2000, DR-1340-MT): 48 Montana counties designated.
- Severe Storms, Flooding, and Ice Jams (1996, DR-1105-MT): 14 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 Silver Bow County between 1950 and 2025. That does not mean one cannot happen.
How Silver Bow County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Silver Bow County (this page) | — | Very Low | 38.0 | Winter weather |
| Deer Lodge County | 36 km | Very Low | 17.6 | Avalanche |
| Jefferson County | 51 km | Very Low | 21.6 | Landslide |
| Granite County | 82 km | Very Low | 9.4 | Landslide |
| Beaverhead County | 87 km | Relatively Low | 42.9 | Avalanche |
| Madison County | 88 km | Very Low | 41.0 | Avalanche |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Montana, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Very Low 17.0 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively High 62.9 |
| Community risk factor | 0.86 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $14 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 Silver Bow County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Montana · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Winter weather: Power outages now · Carbon monoxide in winter
- Landslide: Landslides recorded
- Earthquake: Earthquakes today · Earthquake safety guide
- 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 Silver Bow County
What natural disasters is Silver Bow County, Montana most at risk from?
Silver Bow County, Montana has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 38.0 out of 100, higher than about 38% of US counties, with winter storms, landslides and earthquakes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $14 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Silver Bow County had?
OpenFEMA lists 5 federal disaster declarations that included Silver Bow County since 1981, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is EM-3253-MT (Hurricane Katrina Evacuation, declared 13 September 2005). Another 18 Montana declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Silver Bow County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has no tornado on record touching Silver Bow 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.