Laramie County, Wyoming: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Laramie County, Wyoming has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 76.7 out of 100, higher than about 76% of US counties, with winter storms, cold waves and hail scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $42 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 3 federal disaster declarations that included Laramie County since 1979, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is FM-5490-WY (Happy Jack Fire, declared 1 March 2024). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 124 tornadoes touching Laramie County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 100,483 Buildings worth $21 billion Area 2,715 sq mi Risk rank in Wyoming 1 of 23 FIPS 56021
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 | Very High | 97.1 | $1.1 million | about 21 a year | 398 |
| Cold wave | Relatively High | 93.4 | $11 million | about 3.4 a year | 65 |
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | 92.5 | $2.4 million | about 4.9 a year | 186 |
| Wildfire | Relatively Moderate | 91.9 | $2.1 million | about once every 730 years | — |
| Ice storm | Relatively High | 91.5 | $1.2 million | about once every 31 years | 3 |
| Lightning | Relatively High | 89.1 | $1.3 million | about 52 a year | 227,742 strikes |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | 88.4 | $7.3 million | about 1.6 a year | 81 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Moderate | 71.0 | $1.1 million | about once a year | 38 |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 70.0 | $902,536 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Low | 67.0 | $13 million | about 2 a year | 57 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 42.7 | $914 | about once every 1.3 years | — |
| Drought | Very Low | 27.9 | $21,189 | about 54 a year | 1,897 |
| Heat wave | Very Low | 19.2 | $66,123 | about once every 7.4 years | 0.6 |
| Avalanche | Very Low | 1.6 | — | about once every 100 years | 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 3
Most common: Fire 1, Flood 1, Tornado 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 1 | Tornado |
| 1980s | 1 | Flood |
| 2020s | 1 | Fire |
The last 3
Widest declarations that included Laramie County
- Happy Jack Fire (2024, FM-5490-WY): 1 Wyoming counties designated.
- Severe Storms, Hail & Flooding (1985, DR-740-WY): 1 Wyoming counties designated.
- Severe Storms & Tornadoes (1979, DR-591-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 124
| Tornadoes touching the county | 124 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F3 ×2 |
| Peak month | May (41) |
| Deadliest | 16 Jul 1979, F3, 8.8 mi path, 1 killed, 40 injured |
| Longest path | 8 Jun 1971, F1, 30.2 mi path |
| Most recent | 12 Jun 2025, EF1, 2.2 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 1 / 42 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 78 | 33 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 5 | 8 | 23 | 16 | 33 | 6 | 27 | 6 |
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 Laramie County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laramie County (this page) | — | Relatively Low | 76.7 | Winter weather |
| Kimball County, NE | 82 km | Very Low | 7.6 | Hail |
| Banner County, NE | 86 km | Very Low | 0.8 | Drought |
| Weld County, CO | 87 km | Relatively Moderate | 89.2 | Hail |
| Goshen County | 91 km | Very Low | 28.5 | Hail |
| Albany County | 95 km | Relatively Low | 48.5 | Winter weather |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Wyoming, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Low 22.0 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively Moderate 49.0 |
| Community risk factor | 0.91 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $42 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 Laramie 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
- Cold wave: Carbon monoxide in winter · Power outages now
- Hail: Weather alerts for Wyoming
- 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 Laramie County
What natural disasters is Laramie County, Wyoming most at risk from?
Laramie County, Wyoming has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 76.7 out of 100, higher than about 76% of US counties, with winter storms, cold waves and hail scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $42 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Laramie County had?
OpenFEMA lists 3 federal disaster declarations that included Laramie County since 1979, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is FM-5490-WY (Happy Jack Fire, declared 1 March 2024). Another 1 Wyoming declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Laramie County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 124 tornadoes touching Laramie County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 16 Jul 1979, F3, 8.8 mi path, 1 killed, 40 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.