Converse County, Wyoming: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Converse County, Wyoming has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 31.4 out of 100, higher than about 31% of US counties, with wildfires, winter storms and cold waves scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $9.7 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 3 federal disaster declarations that included Converse County since 1978, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is FM-2992-WY (Arapahoe Fire, declared 29 June 2012). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 49 tornadoes touching Converse County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 13,728 Buildings worth $4.2 billion Area 4,308 sq mi Risk rank in Wyoming 11 of 23 FIPS 56009
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wildfire | Relatively Moderate | 91.1 | $1.5 million | about once every 277 years | — |
| Winter weather | Relatively Moderate | 84.2 | $247,567 | about 19 a year | 363 |
| Cold wave | Relatively Moderate | 72.1 | $2.2 million | about 4.4 a year | 83 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 60.1 | $2,611 | about 2.9 a year | — |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 55.3 | $346,721 | about once every 493 years | — |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Low | 40.4 | $4.7 million | about once every 5.6 years | 5 |
| Hail | Relatively Low | 39.7 | $167,942 | about 1.4 a year | 52 |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | 37.1 | $137,306 | about 42 a year | 89,043 strikes |
| Tornado | Very Low | 24.2 | $325,743 | about once every 1.4 years | 25 |
| Drought | Very Low | 23.1 | $7,743 | about 104 a year | 2,639 |
| Ice storm | Very Low | 17.2 | $11,650 | about once every 65 years | 1 |
| Avalanche | Very Low | 8.9 | $6 | about once every 100 years | 0 |
| Heat wave | Very Low | 7.0 | $9,696 | about once every 5.9 years | 0 |
| Strong wind | Very Low | 5.0 | $33,022 | about once every 2.3 years | 17 |
| 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 3
Most common: Fire 2, Flood 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 1 | Flood |
| 2000s | 1 | Fire |
| 2010s | 1 | Fire |
The last 3
Widest declarations that included Converse County
- Severe Storms, Flooding & Mudslides (1978, DR-557-WY): 12 Wyoming counties designated.
- Arapahoe Fire (2012, FM-2992-WY): 3 Wyoming counties designated.
- Wy-Hensel Fire-06/07/02 (2002, FM-2427-WY): 2 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 49
| Tornadoes touching the county | 49 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F3 ×1 |
| Peak month | June (20) |
| Deadliest | 11 Jun 1962, F2, 52 mi path, 0 killed, 4 injured |
| Longest path | 11 Jun 1962, F2, 52 mi path, 0 killed, 4 injured |
| Most recent | 17 Jun 2025, unrated, 0.1 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 9 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 37 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 1 | 2 | 13 | 11 | 12 | 2 | 6 | 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 Converse County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Converse County (this page) | — | Very Low | 31.4 | Wildfire |
| Niobrara County | 84 km | Very Low | 3.3 | Wildfire |
| Platte County | 103 km | Very Low | 25.7 | Wildfire |
| Natrona County | 105 km | Relatively Low | 68.9 | Winter weather |
| Weston County | 123 km | Very Low | 7.9 | Wildfire |
| Goshen County | 136 km | Very Low | 28.5 | Hail |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Wyoming, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Moderate 42.4 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very Low 12.3 |
| Community risk factor | 1.09 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $9.7 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 Converse County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Wyoming · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Wildfire: US wildfires now · Wildfire smoke: what protects you
- Winter weather: Power outages now · Carbon monoxide in winter
- 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 Converse County
What natural disasters is Converse County, Wyoming most at risk from?
Converse County, Wyoming has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 31.4 out of 100, higher than about 31% of US counties, with wildfires, winter storms and cold waves scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $9.7 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Converse County had?
OpenFEMA lists 3 federal disaster declarations that included Converse County since 1978, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is FM-2992-WY (Arapahoe Fire, declared 29 June 2012). Another 1 Wyoming declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Converse County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 49 tornadoes touching Converse County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 11 Jun 1962, F2, 52 mi path, 0 killed, 4 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.