Spokane County, Washington: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Spokane County, Washington has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 90.0 out of 100, higher than about 90% of US counties, with cold waves, ice storms and wildfires scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $99 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 31 federal disaster declarations that included Spokane County since 1964, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is EM-3650-WA (Wildfires, declared 3 August 2026). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 16 tornadoes touching Spokane County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 538,806 Buildings worth $98 billion Area 1,799 sq mi Risk rank in Washington 13 of 39 FIPS 53063
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 High | 97.5 | $20 million | about 1.1 a year | 21 |
| Ice storm | Very High | 97.0 | $2.7 million | about once every 3.0 years | 23 |
| Wildfire | Relatively Moderate | 96.6 | $7.0 million | about once every 274 years | — |
| Heat wave | Relatively Moderate | 94.9 | $7.0 million | about 3.9 a year | 38 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Moderate | 91.6 | $53 million | about 1.2 a year | 33 |
| Strong wind | Relatively High | 91.2 | $2.5 million | about once every 4.0 years | 10 |
| Winter weather | Relatively High | 87.8 | $400,129 | about 19 a year | 358 |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 85.9 | $3.5 million | about once every 633 years | — |
| Avalanche | Relatively Moderate | 82.3 | $656,238 | about once every 15 years | 2 |
| Hail | Relatively Low | 63.4 | $497,868 | about once every 3.9 years | 9.7 |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | 57.1 | $353,406 | about 16 a year | 248,918 strikes |
| Landslide | Very Low | 56.9 | $2,576 | about once every 1.9 years | — |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | 42.7 | $1.1 million | about once every 13 years | 10 |
| Drought | Very Low | 16.6 | $1,674 | about 13 a year | 448 |
| 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 31
Most common: Fire 17, Flood 6, Severe Storm 4, Coastal Storm 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 1 | Flood |
| 1970s | 1 | Drought |
| 1980s | 3 | Flood ×2, Volcanic Eruption |
| 1990s | 5 | Flood ×2, Severe Storm, Severe Ice Storm, Fire |
| 2000s | 3 | Severe Storm, Fire, Coastal Storm |
| 2010s | 7 | Fire ×5, Flood, Severe Storm |
| 2020s | 11 | Fire ×10, Severe Storm |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Spokane County
- Hurricane Katrina Evacuation (2005, EM-3227-WA): 39 Washington counties designated.
- Volcanic Eruption, Mt. St. Helens (1980, DR-623-WA): 39 Washington counties designated.
- Severe Winter Storms, Land & Muds Slides,flooding (1997, DR-1159-WA): 38 Washington 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. Washington also had 25 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 16
| Tornadoes touching the county | 16 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F2 ×2 |
| Peak month | May (6) |
| Deadliest | — |
| Longest path | 31 May 1997, F1, 5 mi path |
| Most recent | 18 Apr 2024, EF0 |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 0 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 9 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
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 Spokane County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spokane County (this page) | — | Relatively Moderate | 90.0 | Cold wave |
| Kootenai County, ID | 53 km | Relatively Low | 79.0 | Landslide |
| Benewah County, ID | 72 km | Very Low | 19.9 | Landslide |
| Lincoln County | 76 km | Relatively Low | 54.9 | Wildfire |
| Whitman County | 81 km | Very Low | 39.8 | Landslide |
| Stevens County | 93 km | Relatively Low | 60.3 | Wildfire |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Washington, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Low 21.0 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively High 75.8 |
| Community risk factor | 0.89 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $99 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 Spokane County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Washington · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Cold wave: Carbon monoxide in winter · Power outages now
- Ice storm: Power outages now · Carbon monoxide in winter
- 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 Spokane County
What natural disasters is Spokane County, Washington most at risk from?
Spokane County, Washington has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 90.0 out of 100, higher than about 90% of US counties, with cold waves, ice storms and wildfires scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $99 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Spokane County had?
OpenFEMA lists 31 federal disaster declarations that included Spokane County since 1964, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is EM-3650-WA (Wildfires, declared 3 August 2026). Another 25 Washington declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Spokane County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 16 tornadoes touching Spokane 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.