Tornado Risk in Pembina County, ND
Pembina County's tornado history, by the numbers
41 tornado tracks have crossed Pembina County since 1967 by NOAA's count, roughly one every 1.9 years - the High band on this site's scale. That is the 81st percentile nationally for tornado frequency. North Dakota has 53 counties in this dataset; Pembina County ranks 16 of them by frequency.
The number that matters more than frequency
Yes. Pembina County has recorded 1 EF4 or EF5 tornado - the strength FEMA's own safe-room guidance is built around, because a standard code-built house is not expected to survive those winds without a hardened room. A county can be lower-frequency overall and still carry this history.
Shelter and safe-room economics
North Dakota does not currently have a confirmed state rebate layered on top of FEMA's 75% Hazard Mitigation cost-share, so a Pembina County homeowner should expect the full national range: $2,890-$13,280, $7,645 typical.
Power after the storm, not just shelter during it
Power loss after a tornado outbreak in North Dakota often reaches homes the storm itself never touched. A battery-backup unit covers the outage without the fuel and venting a generator needs.
What Pembina County's figure does not tell you
Pembina County's figure is county-wide, not address-specific. Pembina County covers about 1,119 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. Pembina County has about 6,588 residents.