County Hazards

Storm events on record through

Niobrara County, Wyoming Storm events, disaster declarations and flood insurance claims on record

This page is a county record of past events and claims. It does not show the flood zone or the risk of an address. For the flood map of an address, use FEMA's address search (opens in a new tab).

NCEI has 489 storm events on record for Niobrara County, Wyoming, from 1950 through 30 Jun 2026.

The newest event on record is a hail event on 22 Jun 2026.

FEMA has 5 disaster declarations on record for the county from 1964 through 1 Oct 2026. The newest is DR-4535 of 11 Apr 2020.

OpenFEMA has 1 NFIP claim on record for the county from 1978 through 8 Sep 2026. The site shows no amount for fewer than 5 claims.

The NWS collects event reports from a variety of sources, which include (but are not limited to): county, state, and federal emergency management officials, local law enforcement officials, SKYWARN spotters, NWS damage surveys, newspaper clipping services, the insurance industry, and the general public, among others.

The National Weather Service reports property and crop damage estimates using available data at the time of event reporting. These values should therefore be considered broad estimates. Damage amounts are not adjusted for inflation.

Zone (NWS Forecast Zone): A zone is a geographic area defined by the NWS for issuing forecasts, watches, and warnings. While zones often align with counties, they can also represent smaller or subdivided areas within a county to account for differences in weather conditions, such as elevation or proximity to water. Larger-scale events—such as heat, cold, drought, and winter storms—are typically recorded by zone.

The words of the agency. Source: NOAA NCEI, Storm Events Database, page "Frequently Asked Questions", copied on .

This is raw, unedited data from FEMA's National Emergency Management Information System (NEMIS) and as such is subject to a small percentage of human error.

The words of the agency. Source: FEMA, OpenFEMA Dataset "Disaster Declarations Summaries - v2", copied on . The page gives: last data refresh 2026-10-01.

It is derived from the National Flood Insurance Program system of record, staged in the program's reporting platform and redacted to protect policy holder personally identifiable information.

The words of the agency. Source: FEMA, OpenFEMA Dataset "NFIP Redacted Claims - v3", copied on . The page gives: last data refresh 2026-09-09.

Dates of the data: NCEI storm events through . OpenFEMA disaster declarations through . NFIP claims through .

Since the last update: no change is on record for Niobrara County. The site compares the agency data at each update. Updates of the data

The five hazards

Storm events on record for Niobrara County by hazard and period (NCEI, through 30 Jun 2026)
Hazard1950 to 20262000 to 20092010 to 20192020 to 2026Newest event
Hail217379750
Tornado36143
Flood5131
Wind8763627
Winter121166526
Other event types23Heat, cold, drought, wildfire, lightning, fog, tropical and other types
All storm events48961212117

A hazard name opens the page of that hazard for the county. A hazard has a page from 10 events. The year 2026 has the events through 30 Jun 2026 only.

Forecast zones with the name of the county give 181 of the 489 events. A county count has the events that NCEI gives to the county. It also has the events of a forecast zone that has the name of the county. A zone with another name counts for the state only.

Rates of Niobrara County beside the total of the counties of Wyoming and of the United States
MeasureNiobraraAll counties of WyomingAll counties of the United States
Storm events for each 100 square miles, 1950 to 202618.610.549.3
Storm events for each 10,000 residents, 1950 to 2026no figure176.952.5
NFIP claims for each 1,000 policies in force, 2016 to 2025no figure55.9185.3

The columns for the state and the United States total the counties. They count the events of each county in the same way as the county column. The site gives a rate for each 10,000 residents only from 10,000 residents. Residents and area: Census Bureau, 2021.

Newest storm events on record

Hail1.00 in, quarter size

7 miles SW of NODE

Funnel Cloud

1 mile W of MANVILLE

Hail1.00 in, quarter size

4 miles W of LUSK

Hail1.00 in, quarter size

2 miles S of KIRTLEY

Thunderstorm Wind58 mph (50 knots, measured gust)

3 miles W of VAN TASSELL

High Wind64 mph (56 knots, measured gust)

On record for the forecast zone

High Wind60 mph (52 knots, measured gust)

On record for the forecast zone

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill

On record for the forecast zone

High Wind64 mph (56 knots, measured gust)

On record for the forecast zone

High Wind61 mph (53 knots, measured gust)

On record for the forecast zone

High Wind72 mph (63 knots, measured gust)

On record for the forecast zone

Hail1.00 in, quarter size

6 miles W of HAT CREEK

Hail2.75 in, baseball size

At MANVILLE

TornadoEF unrated

1 mile NW of MANVILLE

TornadoEF unrated

2 miles NNW of LUSK

High Wind59 mph (51 knots, measured gust)

On record for the forecast zone

Winter Storm

On record for the forecast zone

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill

On record for the forecast zone

Thunderstorm Wind61 mph (53 knots, measured gust)

4 miles W of VAN TASSELL

Thunderstorm Wind60 mph (52 knots, measured gust)

2 miles SE of KIRTLEY

Hail1.25 in, half dollar size

2 miles WSW of LUSK

Thunderstorm Wind75 mph (65 knots, estimated gust)

13 miles N of WHITMAN

Hail1.00 in, quarter size

4 miles ESE of MANVILLE

High Wind58 mph (50 knots, measured gust)

On record for the forecast zone

Heavy Snow

On record for the forecast zone

The 25 events above are the newest in the NCEI record. A place is the text of the NCEI record: a distance and a direction from a reference place. Wind speed is in miles per hour, with the knots that NCEI gives. The site does not show a place text that names a private property or reads as a person. Download these events (CSV)

Storm events on record for Niobrara County by year, 1950 to 2026
DecadeYear that ends in 0Year that ends in 1Year that ends in 2Year that ends in 3Year that ends in 4Year that ends in 5Year that ends in 6Year that ends in 7Year that ends in 8Year that ends in 9All
1950s10110000003
1960s20200201018
1970s00020011116
1980s412653112025
1990s53212220106657
2000s876589633661
2010s2012726172327241739212
2020s242021241099 (part of the year)117

A darker cell has a larger count. The number is in each cell.

NCEI recorded tornado events from 1950, and hail and thunderstorm wind events from 1955. It recorded all event types from 1996. A count before 1996 has fewer event types.

FEMA disaster declarations

FEMA has 5 disaster declarations on record for Niobrara County from 1964 through 1 Oct 2026. The newest is DR-4535: COVID-19 PANDEMIC.

Disaster declarations that name Niobrara County (OpenFEMA, through 1 Oct 2026)
DeclaredNumberTypeIncident typeTitle in the FEMA recordAssistance
DR-4535Major disasterBiologicalCOVID-19 PANDEMICIndividual, Public
EM-3479EmergencyBiologicalCOVID-19Public
DR-4227Major disasterFloodSEVERE STORMS AND FLOODINGIndividual, Public
DR-1268Major disasterSevere Ice StormWY - WINTER STORM 10/5/98Public
DR-557Major disasterFloodSEVERE STORMS, FLOODING & MUDSLIDESIndividual, Public

DR is a major disaster declaration. EM is an emergency declaration. FM is a fire management assistance declaration. A declaration for the whole state is on the Wyoming page. What a disaster declaration is

The dataset includes declared recovery programs and geographic areas (county not available before 1964; Fire Management records are considered partial due to historical nature of the dataset).

The words of the agency. Source: FEMA, OpenFEMA Dataset "Disaster Declarations Summaries - v2", copied on . The page gives: last data refresh 2026-10-01.

Flood insurance claims (NFIP)

OpenFEMA has 1 NFIP claim on record for Niobrara County from 1978 through 8 Sep 2026.

The site shows no amount for fewer than 5 claims.

FEMA counts 2 residential policies in force on 3 Aug 2026. The site gives a rate for each 1,000 policies only from 100 policies, because one claim changes a smaller rate too much.

NFIP claims in Niobrara County by year of loss, 1978 to 2026
DecadeYear that ends in 0Year that ends in 1Year that ends in 2Year that ends in 3Year that ends in 4Year that ends in 5Year that ends in 6Year that ends in 7Year that ends in 8Year that ends in 9All
1970s000
1980s00000000000
1990s00000000000
2000s10000000001
2010s00000000000
2020s0000000 (part of the year)0

A darker cell has a larger count. The number is in each cell.

NFIP claims by year of loss with the amount paid: 1 year
NFIP claims in Niobrara County by year of loss, with the amount paid (OpenFEMA, through 8 Sep 2026)
Year of lossClaimsClaims with a paymentAmount paid
20001not shownnot shown

A year with fewer than 5 claims shows the count of claims and no amount. A year with 1 to 4 claims with a payment shows no amount either. Such an amount could point to one property. The amount is the sum of the building, contents and increased cost of compliance payments. How FEMA redacts NFIP claims

This dataset is not intended to be an official federal report, and should not be considered an official federal report.

Note, the County Code field may not reflect the individual county the property is located as projects can be associated with more than one county

The words of the agency. Source: FEMA, OpenFEMA Dataset "NFIP Redacted Claims - v3", copied on . The page gives: last data refresh 2026-09-09.

FEMA cannot verify the quality and/or timeliness of any data or any analysis derived therefrom after the data has been retrieved from FEMA.gov.

The words of the agency. Source: FEMA, OpenFEMA Terms and Conditions, copied on . The page gives: last updated 2025-01-22.

National Risk Index

Risk Index rating
Very Low
Risk Index score
3.3 of 100
Expected Annual Loss rating
Very Low
Expected Annual Loss
$1.8 million
Social Vulnerability rating
Relatively High
Community Resilience rating
Very Low
National Risk Index of Niobrara County by hazard type (FEMA, December 2025 release)
Hazard typeRisk Index ratingExpected Annual Loss
Cold waveRelatively Low$521,872
DroughtVery Low$8,932
EarthquakeVery Low$44,914
HailVery Low$67,586
Heat waveVery Low$4,922
Ice stormVery Low$1,177
Inland floodingVery Low$690,875
LandslideVery Low$328
LightningVery Low$27,704
Strong windVery Low$12,911
TornadoVery Low$80,766
WildfireRelatively Low$309,536
Winter weatherRelatively Low$39,858

The National Risk Index dataset leverages available source data for natural hazard and community risk factors to develop a baseline relative risk measurement for each United States county and Census tract.

The rating is a qualitative categorization that describes the community in comparison to all other communities at the same level, ranging from “Very Low” to “Very High.”

The National Risk Index data are meant for planning purposes only.

The words of the agency. Source: FEMA, National Risk Index Data: Frequently Asked Questions (December 2025, v1.20), copied on .

The labels and the ratings are those of FEMA. Expected Annual Loss is a figure for a whole county. It is not a figure for a property. How to read the National Risk Index

Tropical storm and hurricane tracks

The HURDAT2 record of the National Hurricane Center goes through the 2025 season. It has no track at tropical storm strength within 100 miles of the centre point of Niobrara County.

ZIP Codes, cities and towns of Niobrara County

A city or town has no page of its own. This page is the record for the whole county, which has these places:

  • Lance Creek
  • Lusk
  • Manville
  • Van Tassell

Official channels

These links open the pages of the agencies. The site checked the links on .

Cite this page

County Hazards. "Niobrara County, Wyoming: storm events, disaster declarations and flood insurance claims on record". https://countyhazards.com/county/wy/niobrara/. Data: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database through 30 Jun 2026; FEMA OpenFEMA disaster declarations through 1 Oct 2026; FEMA OpenFEMA NFIP claims through 8 Sep 2026. Page made on .

Where the data comes from

  • Storm events: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, yearly details files through 30 Jun 2026.
  • Disaster declarations: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries, read on 1 Oct 2026.
  • NFIP claims: OpenFEMA NFIP Claims, as of 8 Sep 2026. Multiple-loss properties: 2 Aug 2026. Policies in force: 3 Aug 2026.
  • National Risk Index: FEMA, December 2025 release. Storm tracks: NHC HURDAT2 through the 2025 season.
  • Residents, area, places and adjacent counties: US Census Bureau, 2021 vintage.

How the counts are made · Corrections · Hazards in all states: hail, tornado, flood, wind, winter

Questions

How many tornado events are on record for Niobrara County?
NCEI has 36 tornado events on record for Niobrara County from 1950 through 30 Jun 2026. 3 events have a rating of EF2 or F2, or a higher rating.
How large is the hail on record for Niobrara County?
NCEI has 217 hail events on record from 1955 through 30 Jun 2026. 65 events have a hail size of 1.75 inches or more. NCEI names 1.75 inches a golf ball.
Which month has the most storm events on record for Niobrara County?
June has 106 of the 489 storm events on record from 1950 through 30 Jun 2026.
How many NFIP claims are there for each 1,000 policies in force in Niobrara County?
FEMA counts 2 residential policies in force on 3 Aug 2026. The site gives a rate for each 1,000 policies only from 100 policies, because one claim changes a smaller rate too much.