Albany County, Wyoming: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Albany County, Wyoming has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 48.5 out of 100, higher than about 48% of US counties, with winter storms, landslides and cold waves scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $18 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 8 federal disaster declarations that included Albany County since 2002, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is FM-5375-WY (Mullen Fire, declared 26 September 2020). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 32 tornadoes touching Albany County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Wyoming All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 37,019 Buildings worth $9.9 billion Area 4,352 sq mi Risk rank in Wyoming 9 of 23 FIPS 56001
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter weather | Relatively High | 90.6 | $493,174 | about 25 a year | 470 |
| Landslide | Relatively Moderate | 88.3 | $53,486 | about 1.2 a year | — |
| Cold wave | Relatively Moderate | 86.3 | $6.3 million | about 4.2 a year | 79 |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | 84.7 | $782,122 | about once every 617 years | — |
| Avalanche | Relatively Moderate | 83.8 | $913,333 | about once every 15 years | 2 |
| Lightning | Relatively High | 83.0 | $979,107 | about 51 a year | 180,538 strikes |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 61.5 | $575,951 | about once every 763 years | — |
| Ice storm | Relatively Low | 50.7 | $102,207 | about once every 36 years | 2 |
| Hail | Relatively Low | 48.3 | $285,799 | about 2 a year | 77 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Low | 44.1 | $6.5 million | about once every 1.6 years | 18 |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | 36.7 | $863,369 | about once every 1.1 years | 16 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Low | 21.9 | $231,878 | about once every 2.2 years | 18 |
| Drought | No Rating | 0.0 | — | about 76 a year | 2,016 |
| Heat wave | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | 0 |
| 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 8
Most common: Fire 6, Flood 1, Severe Storm 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 2 | Fire ×2 |
| 2010s | 5 | Fire ×3, Flood, Severe Storm |
| 2020s | 1 | Fire |
The last 8
Widest declarations that included Albany County
- Severe Storms, Flooding, and Landslides (2011, DR-4007-WY): 15 Wyoming counties designated.
- Severe Storms and Flooding (2015, DR-4227-WY): 4 Wyoming counties designated.
- Arapahoe Fire (2012, FM-2992-WY): 3 Wyoming counties designated.
Not counted above: 2 COVID-19 ("Biological") declarations — in 2020 every US county was included. Wyoming also had 1 statewide declaration with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 32
| Tornadoes touching the county | 32 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F3 ×1 |
| Peak month | June (11) |
| Deadliest | 3 Jul 1960, F1, 1.5 mi path, 0 killed, 1 injured |
| Longest path | 22 May 2008, EF2, 25.1 mi path, 0 killed, 1 injured |
| Most recent | 17 Jun 2025, EF1, 1.6 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 2 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 16 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 1 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
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 Albany County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albany County (this page) | — | Relatively Low | 48.5 | Winter weather |
| Platte County | 82 km | Very Low | 25.7 | Wildfire |
| Laramie County | 95 km | Relatively Low | 76.7 | Winter weather |
| Carbon County | 100 km | Very Low | 42.7 | Avalanche |
| Larimer County, CO | 112 km | Relatively Moderate | 90.1 | Lightning |
| Jackson County, CO | 122 km | Very Low | 11.8 | Avalanche |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Wyoming, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Low 21.1 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively High 74.7 |
| Community risk factor | 0.90 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $18 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 Albany County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Wyoming · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Winter weather: Power outages now · Carbon monoxide in winter
- Landslide: Landslides recorded
- 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 Albany County
What natural disasters is Albany County, Wyoming most at risk from?
Albany County, Wyoming has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 48.5 out of 100, higher than about 48% of US counties, with winter storms, landslides and cold waves scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $18 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Albany County had?
OpenFEMA lists 8 federal disaster declarations that included Albany County since 2002, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is FM-5375-WY (Mullen Fire, declared 26 September 2020). Another 1 Wyoming declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Albany County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 32 tornadoes touching Albany County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 3 Jul 1960, F1, 1.5 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.