How Likely Is a Tornado in Grant County, WI?
Grant County's tornado history, by the numbers
Grant County has recorded 59 tornado touches in NOAA's 76-year database, a rate of roughly one every 1.3 years - our High band. Put another way: Grant County sees more tornado activity than 92% of US counties. Wisconsin has 72 counties in this dataset; Grant County ranks 4 of them by frequency.
Beyond the frequency band: violent history
46 weak and 13 significant tornadoes make up Grant County's 59-track record - none violent. NOAA has never logged an EF4 or EF5 crossing this county.
The dollar figure Grant County's rating leads to
Cost nationally: $2,890-$13,280, about $7,645 typical. Wisconsin has no state rebate program confirmed here; FEMA's underlying 75% cost-share exists nationwide, but applying through a state program is what usually makes it real, and none was found for Wisconsin this pass.
What a direct hit isn't required for
52,330 people live in Grant County, and a tornado outbreak's power loss usually reaches far more of Wisconsin than the tracks themselves touch. A portable battery unit is the faster, no-fuel way to bridge that outage.
What this number is, and is not
One caveat before relying on Grant County's number: it is county-wide, and it covers about 1,148 square miles, so a single touch counts the same as one in a county a fraction of that size. Weaker pre-1990s tornadoes are also documented as undercounted in NOAA's own record. Grant County has about 52,330 residents.