Whitman County, Washington: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Whitman County, Washington has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 39.8 out of 100, higher than about 39% of US counties, with landslides, wildfires and cold waves scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $14 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 16 federal disaster declarations that included Whitman County since 1964, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4759-WA (Wildfires, declared 15 February 2024). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 3 tornadoes touching Whitman County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Washington All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 47,922 Buildings worth $10 billion Area 2,200 sq mi Risk rank in Washington 32 of 39 FIPS 53075
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 | 91.7 | $83,357 | about 2 a year | — |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | 68.3 | $178,893 | about once every 469 years | — |
| Cold wave | Relatively Moderate | 68.2 | $2.3 million | about once every 1.3 years | 15 |
| Heat wave | Relatively Low | 60.8 | $695,449 | about 4.2 a year | 42 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Low | 58.8 | $10 million | about once every 1.1 years | 26 |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 55.1 | $419,169 | about once every 578 years | — |
| Avalanche | Very Low | 46.2 | $458 | about once every 100 years | 0 |
| Hail | Relatively Low | 39.6 | $203,829 | about once every 3.4 years | 11 |
| Ice storm | Relatively Low | 39.5 | $59,677 | about once every 5.3 years | 13 |
| Winter weather | Relatively Low | 27.5 | $30,361 | about 17 a year | 324 |
| Drought | Very Low | 20.0 | $4,610 | about 15 a year | 406 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Low | 19.4 | $200,090 | about once every 3.9 years | 10 |
| Tornado | Very Low | 10.4 | $83,150 | about once every 13 years | 3 |
| Lightning | Very Low | 7.5 | $27,463 | about 13 a year | 39,397 strikes |
| 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 16
Most common: Flood 6, Fire 4, Severe Storm 3, Coastal Storm 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 1 | Flood |
| 1970s | 4 | Flood ×3, Drought |
| 1980s | 2 | Flood, Volcanic Eruption |
| 1990s | 3 | Severe Storm, Flood, Fire |
| 2000s | 2 | Severe Storm, Coastal Storm |
| 2010s | 1 | Severe Storm |
| 2020s | 3 | Fire ×3 |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Whitman 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 3
| Tornadoes touching the county | 3 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F2 ×1 |
| Peak month | August (1) |
| Deadliest | — |
| Longest path | 30 Aug 1971, F2, 0.5 mi path |
| Most recent | 5 Oct 2011, EF0 |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 0 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 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 Whitman County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whitman County (this page) | — | Very Low | 39.8 | Landslide |
| Garfield County | 52 km | Very Low | 1.6 | Wildfire |
| Latah County, ID | 62 km | Very Low | 33.3 | Wildfire |
| Columbia County | 73 km | Very Low | 8.6 | Wildfire |
| Benewah County, ID | 74 km | Very Low | 19.9 | Landslide |
| Adams County | 79 km | Very Low | 23.2 | Wildfire |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Washington, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Low 20.8 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively Moderate 50.6 |
| Community risk factor | 0.90 |
| 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 Whitman County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Washington · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Landslide: Landslides recorded
- Wildfire: US wildfires now · Wildfire smoke: what protects you
- Cold wave: Carbon monoxide in winter · Power outages 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 Whitman County
What natural disasters is Whitman County, Washington most at risk from?
Whitman County, Washington has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 39.8 out of 100, higher than about 39% of US counties, with landslides, wildfires and cold waves scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $14 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Whitman County had?
OpenFEMA lists 16 federal disaster declarations that included Whitman County since 1964, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4759-WA (Wildfires, declared 15 February 2024). Another 25 Washington declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Whitman County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 3 tornadoes touching Whitman 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.