Vilas County, Wisconsin: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Vilas County, Wisconsin has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 63.3 out of 100, higher than about 63% of US counties, with cold waves, strong winds and winter storms scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $19 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 5 federal disaster declarations that included Vilas County since 1976, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4949-WI (Severe Storms and Tornadoes, declared 7 October 2026). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 16 tornadoes touching Vilas County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 23,031 Buildings worth $9.2 billion Area 1,028 sq mi Risk rank in Wisconsin 35 of 72 FIPS 55125
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 | 94.5 | $8.8 million | about 9.2 a year | 174 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Moderate | 80.6 | $1.1 million | about 1.2 a year | 47 |
| Winter weather | Relatively Moderate | 78.3 | $154,328 | about 22 a year | 415 |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | 66.1 | $344,313 | about 27 a year | 73,952 strikes |
| Hail | Relatively Low | 61.5 | $321,857 | about 1.3 a year | 50 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Low | 60.9 | $7.5 million | about once every 4.0 years | 7 |
| Ice storm | Relatively Low | 44.9 | $53,899 | about once every 5.0 years | 14 |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | 29.1 | $390,616 | about once every 6.1 years | 12 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 22.3 | $119 | about once every 2.9 years | — |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 22.1 | $7,130 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Drought | Very Low | 20.1 | $3,293 | about 1.1 a year | 35 |
| Heat wave | Very Low | 12.7 | $22,114 | about once every 3.2 years | 6 |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 2.7 | $2,066 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Hurricane | No Rating | 0.0 | — | about once every 265 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 5
Most common: Flood 2, Tornado 1, Hurricane 1, Drought 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 1 | Drought |
| 1980s | 1 | Flood |
| 1990s | 1 | Flood |
| 2000s | 1 | Hurricane |
| 2020s | 1 | Tornado |
The last 5
Widest declarations that included Vilas County
- Hurricane Katrina Evacuation (2005, EM-3249-WI): 72 Wisconsin counties designated.
- Drought (1976, EM-3014-WI): 66 Wisconsin counties designated.
- Wi-Flood-07/20/99 (1999, DR-1284-WI): 10 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 16
| Tornadoes touching the county | 16 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F3 ×2 |
| Peak month | July (6) |
| Deadliest | 27 Apr 1984, F3, 29 mi path, 1 killed, 8 injured |
| Longest path | 7 Jul 1970, F3, 37.9 mi path |
| Most recent | 9 Aug 2020, EF1, 6.2 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 1 / 9 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 1 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 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 Vilas County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vilas County (this page) | — | Relatively Low | 63.3 | Cold wave |
| Oneida County | 39 km | Relatively Low | 62.5 | Cold wave |
| Gogebic County, MI | 42 km | Very Low | 25.6 | Lightning |
| Iron County | 61 km | Very Low | 11.5 | Cold wave |
| Ontonagon County, MI | 70 km | Very Low | 4.2 | Winter weather |
| Forest County | 72 km | Relatively Low | 47.4 | Cold wave |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Wisconsin, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively High 68.9 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively High 62.7 |
| Community risk factor | 1.29 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $19 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 Vilas 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
- Strong wind: Power outages now
- Winter weather: Power outages now · Carbon monoxide in winter
- 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 Vilas County
What natural disasters is Vilas County, Wisconsin most at risk from?
Vilas County, Wisconsin has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 63.3 out of 100, higher than about 63% of US counties, with cold waves, strong winds and winter storms scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $19 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Vilas County had?
OpenFEMA lists 5 federal disaster declarations that included Vilas County since 1976, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4949-WI (Severe Storms and Tornadoes, declared 7 October 2026). Another 1 Wisconsin declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Vilas County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 16 tornadoes touching Vilas County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 27 Apr 1984, F3, 29 mi path, 1 killed, 8 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.