Green Lake County, Wisconsin: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Green Lake County, Wisconsin has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 58.0 out of 100, higher than about 58% of US counties, with hail, cold waves and tornadoes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $14 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 7 federal disaster declarations that included Green Lake County since 1973, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4402-WI (Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, and Landslides, declared 18 October 2018). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 40 tornadoes touching Green Lake County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 18,977 Buildings worth $8.5 billion Area 384 sq mi Risk rank in Wisconsin 43 of 72 FIPS 55047
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | 93.1 | $1.6 million | about 3.7 a year | 142 |
| Cold wave | Relatively Moderate | 77.2 | $2.2 million | about 6.3 a year | 119 |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | 75.1 | $2.2 million | about once every 3.6 years | 39 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Moderate | 68.0 | $651,432 | about 3.7 a year | 141 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Low | 62.3 | $7.0 million | about once every 2.2 years | 13 |
| Heat wave | Relatively Low | 54.9 | $335,524 | about 2.7 a year | 37 |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 47.1 | $28,155 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Landslide | Very Low | 47.0 | $810 | about once every 18 years | — |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 43.3 | $63,517 | about 1.8 a year | 63 |
| Winter weather | Relatively Low | 34.4 | $25,864 | about 15 a year | 280 |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | 27.8 | $71,576 | about 34 a year | 47,457 strikes |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 24.0 | $28,693 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Ice storm | Very Low | 22.0 | $13,844 | about once every 4.2 years | 17 |
| Hurricane | Very Low | 12.7 | $2,088 | about once every 100 years | 0 |
| Avalanche | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Coastal flooding | 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 7
Most common: Severe Storm 3, Flood 2, Hurricane 1, Drought 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 2 | Drought, Flood |
| 1990s | 1 | Severe Storm |
| 2000s | 3 | Severe Storm ×2, Hurricane |
| 2010s | 1 | Flood |
The last 7
Widest declarations that included Green Lake County
- Hurricane Katrina Evacuation (2005, EM-3249-WI): 72 Wisconsin counties designated.
- Drought (1976, EM-3014-WI): 66 Wisconsin counties designated.
- Severe Storms, Tornadoes & Flooding (1993, DR-994-WI): 47 Wisconsin 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. Wisconsin also had 1 statewide declaration with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 40
| Tornadoes touching the county | 40 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F4 ×1 |
| Peak month | June (14) |
| Deadliest | 3 Apr 1956, F4, 11.5 mi path, 7 killed, 50 injured |
| Longest path | 23 Jun 2004, F3, 33.3 mi path |
| Most recent | 28 Aug 2018, EF1, 3.1 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 8 / 56 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 19 | 12 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 14 | 8 | 10 | 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 Green Lake County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Green Lake County (this page) | — | Relatively Low | 58.0 | Hail |
| Marquette County | 28 km | Relatively Low | 47.6 | Hail |
| Waushara County | 38 km | Relatively Low | 43.3 | Hail |
| Columbia County | 44 km | Relatively Moderate | 81.4 | Hail |
| Winnebago County | 44 km | Relatively Moderate | 86.8 | Cold wave |
| Fond du Lac County | 45 km | Relatively Low | 76.3 | Hail |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Wisconsin, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Very High 86.1 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively High 77.9 |
| Community risk factor | 1.46 |
| 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 Green Lake County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Wisconsin · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Hail: Weather alerts for Wisconsin
- Cold wave: Carbon monoxide in winter · Power outages now
- Tornado: Is there a tornado warning 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 Green Lake County
What natural disasters is Green Lake County, Wisconsin most at risk from?
Green Lake County, Wisconsin has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 58.0 out of 100, higher than about 58% of US counties, with hail, cold waves and tornadoes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $14 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Green Lake County had?
OpenFEMA lists 7 federal disaster declarations that included Green Lake County since 1973, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4402-WI (Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, and Landslides, declared 18 October 2018). Another 1 Wisconsin declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Green Lake County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 40 tornadoes touching Green Lake County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 3 Apr 1956, F4, 11.5 mi path, 7 killed, 50 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.