How TornadoRiskCheck Reports Your County's Tornado Data

One NOAA database, county by county

Every county page reports NOAA Storm Prediction Center's own "actual tornadoes" database, 1950 through 2025 - 73,458 track-segment rows, joined to that county's 5-digit FIPS code alongside the 2025 Census Gazetteer (land area) and 2024 population estimate. A track touching a county is counted once for that county even if the same tornado's path crosses it more than once.

Why some counties show zero

128 counties in this dataset have no recorded tornado touch since 1950 - concentrated in the Northeast and along the Pacific coast. That is a real geographic result, not a gap in the join: those regions genuinely see far fewer tornadoes than the Great Plains and Southeast.

How the risk band and national rank are built

Counties are ranked by average tracks per year, then bucketed into five bands (Minimal through High) by national percentile - this site's own bucketing, since NOAA does not publish an official risk label. The separate violent-history flag (has this county ever recorded an EF4 or EF5) is kept apart from the band on purpose: FEMA's own safe-room guidance centers on that specific strength, not on raw frequency, and collapsing both into one score would hide it.

Where the cost and rebate figures come from

Storm-shelter and safe-room cost figures are sourced from Angi's own published cost guide. State rebate programs (Oklahoma's SoonerSafe, and Mississippi's, Indiana's, and Nebraska's own safe-room programs) come from each program's own published terms, confirmed 2026-08-27; several are lottery-based or between funding rounds, which each county page notes rather than assuming is always open.

Where to go next

See the range this plays out across: Weld County, CO, Oregon County, MO, Kalawao County, HI.

Why a Violent (EF4-5) Tornado History Matters More Than Frequency · Storm Shelter Cost and State Rebate Programs, in Full