Tornado Risk in Hot Springs County, WY
Hot Springs County, WY: what NOAA's tornado record says
6 tornado tracks have crossed Hot Springs County since 1985 by NOAA's count, roughly one every 12.7 years - the Minimal band on this site's scale. That is the 18th percentile nationally for tornado frequency. Wyoming has 23 counties in this dataset; Hot Springs County ranks 21 of them by frequency.
The number that matters more than frequency
No violent (EF4-5) tornado has been recorded in Hot Springs County in NOAA's 76-year database. Of its 6 recorded tracks, 5 were weak (EF0-1) and 1 significant (EF2-3).
Shelter and safe-room economics
Wyoming does not currently have a confirmed state rebate layered on top of FEMA's 75% Hazard Mitigation cost-share, so a Hot Springs County homeowner should expect the full national range: $2,890-$13,280, $7,645 typical.
Power after the storm, not just shelter during it
The storm that misses Hot Springs County outright can still take its power out - outbreak-scale outages across Wyoming are common well beyond the tracked path. A battery-backup unit handles that without a generator's setup or fuel.
What Hot Springs County's figure does not tell you
Hot Springs County's figure is county-wide, not address-specific. Hot Springs County covers about 2,004 square miles, so a single touch here counts the same as a single touch in a county a fraction of that size. NOAA also documents that older records undercount weaker tornadoes from before Doppler radar became standard. Hot Springs County has about 4,625 residents.