Vernon County, Wisconsin: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Vernon County, Wisconsin has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 75.0 out of 100, higher than about 75% of US counties, with landslides, cold waves and hail scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $25 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 21 federal disaster declarations that included Vernon County since 1965, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4923-WI (Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding, declared 30 June 2026). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 25 tornadoes touching Vernon County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Wisconsin All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 30,574 Buildings worth $8.1 billion Area 825 sq mi Risk rank in Wisconsin 19 of 72 FIPS 55123
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 High | 99.0 | $992,177 | about 1.2 a year | — |
| Cold wave | Relatively High | 96.0 | $10.0 million | about 6.8 a year | 129 |
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | 87.3 | $1.1 million | about 3.6 a year | 136 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Moderate | 75.6 | $843,128 | about 3.2 a year | 121 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Low | 70.2 | $9.8 million | about 2.6 a year | 73 |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | 69.4 | $1.8 million | about once every 2.6 years | 17 |
| Heat wave | Relatively Low | 66.9 | $587,001 | about 3.6 a year | 54 |
| Ice storm | Relatively Low | 48.4 | $58,942 | about once every 5.3 years | 13 |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 43.7 | $69,036 | about 5.1 a year | 238 |
| Winter weather | Relatively Low | 36.0 | $28,333 | about 16 a year | 310 |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | 32.7 | $89,668 | about 36 a year | 82,052 strikes |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 17.2 | $4,554 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 13.2 | $10,108 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Hurricane | Very Low | 9.6 | $1,303 | about once every 143 years | 2 |
| 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 21
Most common: Severe Storm 10, Flood 8, Hurricane 1, Drought 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 2 | Flood, Tornado |
| 1970s | 3 | Severe Storm, Drought, Flood |
| 1990s | 4 | Severe Storm ×3, Flood |
| 2000s | 6 | Severe Storm ×4, Hurricane, Flood |
| 2010s | 5 | Flood ×3, Severe Storm ×2 |
| 2020s | 1 | Flood |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Vernon 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 25
| Tornadoes touching the county | 25 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F3 ×1 |
| Peak month | June (8) |
| Deadliest | 18 Aug 2005, F2, 20 mi path, 0 killed, 3 injured |
| Longest path | 5 Jun 1980, F2, 70.2 mi path |
| Most recent | 26 Jun 2025, EF0, 0.7 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 7 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 8 | 11 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 1 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
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 Vernon County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vernon County (this page) | — | Relatively Low | 75.0 | Landslide |
| Crawford County | 40 km | Relatively Low | 46.2 | Landslide |
| Richland County | 41 km | Relatively Low | 51.6 | Landslide |
| La Crosse County | 41 km | Relatively Low | 80.5 | Cold wave |
| Monroe County | 43 km | Relatively Low | 78.8 | Cold wave |
| Houston County, MN | 54 km | Very Low | 29.5 | Landslide |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Wisconsin, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively High 79.4 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively High 65.0 |
| Community risk factor | 1.40 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $25 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 Vernon County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Wisconsin · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Landslide: Landslides recorded
- Cold wave: Carbon monoxide in winter · Power outages now
- Hail: Weather alerts for Wisconsin
- 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 Vernon County
What natural disasters is Vernon County, Wisconsin most at risk from?
Vernon County, Wisconsin has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 75.0 out of 100, higher than about 75% of US counties, with landslides, cold waves and hail scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $25 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Vernon County had?
OpenFEMA lists 21 federal disaster declarations that included Vernon County since 1965, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4923-WI (Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding, declared 30 June 2026). Another 1 Wisconsin declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Vernon County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 25 tornadoes touching Vernon County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 18 Aug 2005, F2, 20 mi path, 0 killed, 3 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.