Natural hazards · Yellowstone

Yellowstone, ND natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Yellowstone comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Yellowstone?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Yellowstone to be higher than in 40% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and cold waves.

Inland flooding36%Cold waves31%Hail11%Tornadoes6%Strong wind5%Everything else11%

By hazard

What Yellowstone faces

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

Inland flooding

36% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 42% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 4 years in the area

Cold waves

31% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 73% of U.S. places

Recorded about 15 times a year in the area

Hail

11% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 95% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

6% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 59% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 7 years in the area

Strong wind

5% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 78% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Lower here

Ice stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesLightningDrought

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic activity

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 Yellowstone flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: McKenzie County.

Disasters that hit Yellowstone

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into YellowstoneDeclared for McKenzie County only

McKenzie County has had 20 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and floods.

Around Yellowstone

Yellowstone and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Yellowstonemostly inland floodingModerate

Siouxmostly inland floodingModerate

Bufordmostly cold wavesVery low

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. Yellowstone 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 Yellowstone’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Yellowstone. 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.