Picnic Point’s biggest natural hazard is avalanches
Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Picnic Point comes from avalanches, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 3 claims here since 1980.
What stands out about Picnic Point’s weather risks
Read from FEMA’s records below. The page puts what stands out first.
What Picnic Point faces
Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how it compares with the rest of the country.
Avalanches
Earthquakes
Inland flooding
Picnic Point and its neighbors
Picnic Point has the lowest rating of the 4 towns around it. Tap a town to see its hazards.
| Town | Rating | Mostly | Flood claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Lynnwood | High | earthquakes | 4 |
| Mukilteo | Moderate | earthquakes | 2 |
| Picnic Point | Moderate | avalanches | 3 |
| Meadowdale | Moderate | earthquakes | 0 |
Rating = expected yearly storm and flood damage as a share of what’s there, vs. U.S. communities. Flood claims = paid federal flood insurance claims on record.
How exposed is Picnic Point?
FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings here to be higher than in 46% of U.S. communities, mostly from avalanches and earthquakes.
Calmer than 563 of the 639 Washington towns we cover.
Picnic Point covers 2 census tracts, combined by population.
Does Picnic Point flood? Rarely: 3 flood claims since 1980
Every paid claim on a federal flood insurance policy in Picnic Point, from FEMA’s records.
Picnic Point isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Snohomish County.Federal disasters declared here
None of the disasters declared for Snohomish County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Picnic Point itself in FEMA’s records.
Snohomish County has had 33 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and floods.
Get ready for what Picnic Point actually faces
A short kit for its top hazards, what to check before you buy, and where neighbors get alerts.
- Check the avalanche forecast before heading into the backcountry.
- Carry a beacon, probe and shovel, and know how to use them.
- Most avalanches are set off by the people caught in them.
- Drop, cover and hold on.
- Strap tall furniture and the water heater to the wall.
- Know how to shut off the gas.
- Turn around at flooded roads: a foot of moving water can carry off a car.
- Flood insurance usually takes 30 days to start, so buy it before the forecast.
- Keep papers and medicines up high, in a grab-and-go bag.
- Look up the address on FEMA’s flood map.
- Ask the seller or landlord whether it has ever flooded, and what flood insurance costs there.
- Get a flood insurance quote early: policies usually start 30 days after you buy.
Know where neighbors sign up for alerts? Add it to the Handbook so everyone has it.
Most disasters here begin in November–January
The month each of Snohomish County’s 33 declared disasters began, since 1953.
What these numbers can and can’t tell you
- An average, not a forecast. FEMA’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 there, so a big city isn’t rated riskier just for having more buildings.
- Money that reached town. Flood claims are matched to Picnic Point’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Picnic Point.
- It follows property value. FEMA’s model weighs damage to buildings, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels. Across Picnic Point, expected losses total about $3.9M a year, counting buildings, people and crops.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Picnic Point.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
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. Preparedness tips: Ready.gov. An average of past damage, not a forecast.