Natural hazards · Big Sky

Big Sky, MT natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Big Sky comes from avalanches, and overall the risk is high for a U.S. community.

FEMA National Risk Index, December 2025 · OpenFEMA claims, aid & declarations

Expected damage

How exposed is Big Sky?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Big Sky to be higher than in 74% of U.S. communities, mostly from avalanches.

Avalanches70%Inland flooding13%Wildfire8%Everything else10%

By hazard

What Big Sky faces

Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how that compares with the rest of the country.

Avalanches

70% of expected damage

Well above average · among the top 1% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Inland flooding

13% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 68% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Wildfire

8% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 98% of U.S. places

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightningVolcanic activity

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesDroughtTsunamis

Flood risk changes street by street. Check a specific address on FEMA’s flood map, and ask about flood insurance before you buy.

Flood insurance claims

Does Big Sky flood?

FEMA's records show no paid flood insurance claims in Big Sky.

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Big Sky isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.

Insurance rates: Gallatin County.

Disasters that hit Big Sky

Federal disasters declared here

None of the disasters declared for Gallatin County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Big Sky itself in FEMA’s records.

Brought FEMA money into Big SkyDeclared for Gallatin County only

Gallatin County has had 7 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often fires and severe storms.

About these numbers

How to read this page

An average, not a forecastFEMA’s National Risk Index estimates the damage 18 kinds of natural hazards cause in a typical year, from decades of records and models. A quiet decade can follow a bad year.

Compared by rate“Higher than N%” compares yearly damage as a share of what’s here, so a big city isn’t rated riskier just for having more buildings. Big Sky is smaller than a census tract, so it shares the figures of the tract around its center.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Big Sky’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Big Sky. FEMA’s model follows property values, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.

Sources: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025); OpenFEMA: NFIP redacted claims, multiple-loss properties, community status book and residential penetration rates, housing assistance (owners and renters), public assistance funded projects, hazard mitigation properties and disaster declarations. Census tracts: U.S. Census Bureau.