La Crosse County, Wisconsin: Natural Disaster Risk and History
La Crosse County, Wisconsin has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 80.5 out of 100, higher than about 80% of US counties, with cold waves, hail and landslides scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $54 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 16 federal disaster declarations that included La Crosse County since 1965, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4459-WI (Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding, declared 27 August 2019). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 18 tornadoes touching La Crosse County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 120,545 Buildings worth $28 billion Area 485 sq mi Risk rank in Wisconsin 11 of 72 FIPS 55063
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 | 96.8 | $19 million | about 7 a year | 132 |
| Hail | Relatively High | 95.1 | $3.7 million | about 3.6 a year | 136 |
| Landslide | Relatively Moderate | 92.7 | $100,878 | about once every 2.2 years | — |
| Heat wave | Relatively Moderate | 88.5 | $3.3 million | about 3.7 a year | 53 |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | 84.6 | $6.4 million | about once every 5.1 years | 12 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Moderate | 76.9 | $1.5 million | about 3 a year | 114 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Moderate | 74.0 | $19 million | about 2.3 a year | 65 |
| Winter weather | Relatively Moderate | 68.0 | $150,038 | about 16 a year | 309 |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | 55.2 | $349,475 | about 36 a year | 137,766 strikes |
| Ice storm | Relatively Low | 42.5 | $74,094 | about once every 7.7 years | 9 |
| Drought | Very Low | 27.0 | $20,632 | about 4.8 a year | 168 |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 22.8 | $44,195 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 11.8 | $4,875 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Hurricane | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | 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 16
Most common: Severe Storm 7, Flood 6, Hurricane 1, Drought 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 2 | Flood, Tornado |
| 1970s | 3 | Severe Storm, Drought, Flood |
| 1990s | 2 | Severe Storm ×2 |
| 2000s | 5 | Severe Storm ×3, Hurricane, Flood |
| 2010s | 4 | Flood ×3, Severe Storm |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included La Crosse 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 18
| Tornadoes touching the county | 18 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F2 ×3 |
| Peak month | June (7) |
| Deadliest | 10 Jul 1966, F1, 1 mi path, 0 killed, 1 injured |
| Longest path | 5 Jun 1980, F2, 70.2 mi path |
| Most recent | 25 Jun 2025, EF1, 5.1 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 2 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 5 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 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 La Crosse County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| La Crosse County (this page) | — | Relatively Low | 80.5 | Cold wave |
| Houston County, MN | 40 km | Very Low | 29.5 | Landslide |
| Monroe County | 40 km | Relatively Low | 78.8 | Cold wave |
| Vernon County | 41 km | Relatively Low | 75.0 | Landslide |
| Trempealeau County | 48 km | Relatively Low | 58.7 | Landslide |
| Jackson County | 52 km | Relatively Low | 48.1 | Landslide |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Wisconsin, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Very Low 16.3 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very High 92.5 |
| Community risk factor | 0.84 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $54 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 La Crosse County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Wisconsin · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Cold wave: Carbon monoxide in winter · Power outages now
- Hail: Weather alerts for Wisconsin
- Landslide: Landslides recorded
- 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 La Crosse County
What natural disasters is La Crosse County, Wisconsin most at risk from?
La Crosse County, Wisconsin has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 80.5 out of 100, higher than about 80% of US counties, with cold waves, hail and landslides scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $54 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has La Crosse County had?
OpenFEMA lists 16 federal disaster declarations that included La Crosse County since 1965, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4459-WI (Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding, declared 27 August 2019). Another 1 Wisconsin declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit La Crosse County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 18 tornadoes touching La Crosse County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 10 Jul 1966, F1, 1 mi path, 0 killed, 1 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.