Hot Springs County, Wyoming: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Hot Springs County, Wyoming has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 16.1 out of 100, higher than about 16% of US counties, with landslides, avalanches and wildfires scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $4.7 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 2 federal disaster declarations that included Hot Springs County since 1978, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is FM-5608-WY (Red Canyon Fire, declared 15 August 2025). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 6 tornadoes touching Hot Springs County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Wyoming All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 4,609 Buildings worth $1.5 billion Area 2,027 sq mi Risk rank in Wyoming 21 of 23 FIPS 56017
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 Moderate | 95.0 | $95,269 | about 3.1 a year | — |
| Avalanche | Relatively Low | 77.2 | $29,975 | about once every 15 years | 2 |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | 66.4 | $97,962 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 60.8 | $351,543 | about once every 330 years | — |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Low | 39.4 | $3.5 million | about once every 4.7 years | 6 |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | 38.1 | $111,727 | about 35 a year | 28,410 strikes |
| Cold wave | Relatively Low | 28.9 | $291,442 | about once every 1.3 years | 14 |
| Hail | Very Low | 18.5 | $48,775 | about once every 2.6 years | 14 |
| Drought | Very Low | 16.3 | $929 | about 74 a year | 1,862 |
| Volcanic activity | Very Low | 13.4 | — | rarer than once in 1,000 years | 1 |
| Tornado | Very Low | 11.4 | $62,797 | about once every 8.1 years | 4 |
| Strong wind | Very Low | 5.4 | $27,167 | about once every 3.0 years | 13 |
| Heat wave | Very Low | 5.4 | $4,706 | about once every 7.2 years | 0 |
| Ice storm | Very Low | 4.7 | $1,634 | about once every 67 years | 0 |
| Winter weather | Very Low | 2.3 | $936 | about 13 a year | 238 |
| Coastal flooding | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Hurricane | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Tsunami | 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 2
Most common: Fire 1, Flood 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 1 | Flood |
| 2020s | 1 | Fire |
The last 2
Widest declarations that included Hot Springs County
- Severe Storms, Flooding & Mudslides (1978, DR-557-WY): 12 Wyoming counties designated.
- Red Canyon Fire (2025, FM-5608-WY): 1 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 6
| Tornadoes touching the county | 6 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F2 ×1 |
| Peak month | June (3) |
| Deadliest | — |
| Longest path | 3 Jun 2014, EF0, 2.2 mi path |
| Most recent | 9 Sep 2024, EF0, 0.2 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 0 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
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 Hot Springs County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hot Springs County (this page) | — | Very Low | 16.1 | Landslide |
| Washakie County | 64 km | Very Low | 24.4 | Landslide |
| Fremont County | 77 km | Relatively Low | 59.7 | Landslide |
| Big Horn County | 97 km | Very Low | 31.1 | Landslide |
| Park County | 128 km | Relatively Low | 57.7 | Landslide |
| Johnson County | 153 km | Very Low | 19.3 | Wildfire |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Wyoming, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively High 73.3 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very Low 13.1 |
| Community risk factor | 1.40 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $4.7 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 Hot Springs County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Wyoming · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Landslide: Landslides recorded
- Avalanche: Official warnings now
- Wildfire: US wildfires now · Wildfire smoke: what protects you
- 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 Hot Springs County
What natural disasters is Hot Springs County, Wyoming most at risk from?
Hot Springs County, Wyoming has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 16.1 out of 100, higher than about 16% of US counties, with landslides, avalanches and wildfires scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $4.7 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Hot Springs County had?
OpenFEMA lists 2 federal disaster declarations that included Hot Springs County since 1978, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is FM-5608-WY (Red Canyon Fire, declared 15 August 2025). Another 1 Wyoming declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Hot Springs County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 6 tornadoes touching Hot Springs County from 1950 to 2025.
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.