Cold Wave Risk by State & County

Ranked by FEMA National Risk Index cold wave hazard score · code CWAV

Cold Wave risk reflects prolonged spells of dangerously low temperatures. FEMA's National Risk Index scores each county's cold wave hazard from its expected annual loss, annualized event frequency, and exposed population. Cook County, Illinois currently leads the nation with a cold wave score of 100.0 and $700M in expected annual loss. Texas, Florida, Illinois account for much of the highest-rated cold wave risk in this dataset.

Read the full cold wave risk guide — how FEMA scores it and how to prepare →

Cold Wave Risk by State

#StateExpected Ann. LossAvg. ScoreRatingCounties Rated
1Illinois$1.39B
67.7
High 102 of 102
2Texas$1.09B
54.2
Medium 254 of 254
3Wisconsin$806M
85.8
Very High 72 of 72
4Minnesota$471M
65.5
High 87 of 87
5Michigan$448M
69.5
High 83 of 83
6Tennessee$355M
67.6
High 95 of 95
7Florida$336M
54.4
Medium 67 of 67
8Missouri$321M
60.0
High 115 of 115
9New York$310M
57.8
Medium 62 of 62
10Pennsylvania$256M
43.3
Medium 67 of 67
11Indiana$255M
50.9
Medium 92 of 92
12Montana$244M
68.4
High 56 of 56
13Ohio$226M
40.6
Medium 88 of 88
14Oklahoma$221M
62.3
High 77 of 77
15Georgia$213M
41.0
Medium 159 of 159
16Kansas$199M
40.3
Medium 105 of 105
17North Carolina$191M
53.7
Medium 100 of 100
18North Dakota$189M
67.7
High 53 of 53
19South Dakota$188M
61.8
High 66 of 66
20Louisiana$185M
56.5
Medium 64 of 64
21Kentucky$169M
46.2
Medium 120 of 120
22Iowa$164M
50.7
Medium 99 of 99
23Alabama$153M
54.5
Medium 67 of 67
24South Carolina$152M
64.8
High 46 of 46
25Mississippi$150M
57.5
Medium 82 of 82
26New Jersey$136M
82.2
Very High 21 of 21
27Colorado$129M
34.5
Low 64 of 64
28Washington$117M
50.2
Medium 39 of 39
29Alaska$80M
40.8
Medium 30 of 30
30Arkansas$76M
42.1
Medium 75 of 75
31Virginia$76M
27.3
Low 133 of 133
32Nebraska$74M
26.9
Low 93 of 93
33Idaho$63M
35.7
Low 44 of 44
34Oregon$57M
31.9
Low 36 of 36
35Wyoming$56M
56.8
Medium 23 of 23
36Maryland$50M
49.4
Medium 24 of 24
37Massachusetts$49M
62.6
High 14 of 14
38Maine$47M
57.5
Medium 16 of 16
39Delaware$38M
95.1
Very High 3 of 3
40West Virginia$35M
30.2
Low 55 of 55
41Connecticut$23M
56.0
Medium 9 of 9
42New Mexico$21M
33.3
Low 33 of 33
43Vermont$18M
44.2
Medium 14 of 14
44New Hampshire$16M
52.4
Medium 10 of 10
45District of Columbia$11M
94.1
Very High 1 of 1
46Rhode Island$8M
37.2
Low 5 of 5
47Utah$8M
12.1
Very Low 29 of 29
48Arizona$5M
16.2
Very Low 15 of 15
49Nevada$1M
7.0
Very Low 17 of 17
50California$705K
1.6
Very Low 58 of 58
51Hawaii$14
0.6
Very Low 5 of 5

States ranked by total expected annual cold wave losses; the average score is the mean over all counties, counting unrated counties as zero.

Riskiest Counties for Cold Wave

#CountyStateCold Wave ScoreRatingAnn. Freq.Ann. Loss
1Cook CountyIL
100.0
Very High 4.25 / yr$700M
2Milwaukee CountyWI
100.0
Very High 4.89 / yr$177M
3Harris CountyTX
99.9
Very High 0.48 / yr$118M
4Dallas CountyTX
99.9
Very High 0.95 / yr$98M
5Hidalgo CountyTX
99.9
Very High 3.08 / yr$88M
6Philadelphia CountyPA
99.8
Very High 0.79 / yr$57M
7Shelby CountyTN
99.8
Very High 1.68 / yr$62M
8Hennepin CountyMN
99.8
Very High 8.95 / yr$102M
9Queens CountyNY
99.7
Very High 0.52 / yr$46M
10Wayne CountyMI
99.7
Very High 2.68 / yr$60M
11Cuyahoga CountyOH
99.7
Very High 3.68 / yr$50M
12DuPage CountyIL
99.7
Very High 4.64 / yr$72M
13Bronx CountyNY
99.6
Very High 0.55 / yr$31M
14Erie CountyNY
99.6
Very High 4.90 / yr$53M
15Will CountyIL
99.6
Very High 4.30 / yr$72M
16Miami-Dade CountyFL
99.5
Very High 1.28 / yr$41M
17Hillsborough CountyFL
99.5
Very High 4.14 / yr$54M
18Cameron CountyTX
99.5
Very High 3.06 / yr$33M
19Lake CountyIN
99.4
Very High 3.63 / yr$47M
20Galveston CountyTX
99.4
Very High 0.42 / yr$53M
21St. Louis CountyMN
99.4
Very High 14.89 / yr$51M
22Orange CountyFL
99.3
Very High 3.87 / yr$48M
23Oakland CountyMI
99.3
Very High 2.63 / yr$55M
24Sedgwick CountyKS
99.3
Very High 1.58 / yr$51M
25Collier CountyFL
99.2
Very High 2.12 / yr$34M

Showing the top 25 seeded counties for cold wave risk.