How Likely Is a Tornado in Wasco County, OR?
Wasco County's tornado history, by the numbers
Wasco County has recorded 1 tornado touches in NOAA's 76-year database, a rate of roughly one every 76.9 years - our Minimal band. Put another way: Wasco County sees more tornado activity than 6% of US counties. Oregon has 36 counties in this dataset; Wasco County ranks 27 of them by frequency.
Beyond the frequency band: violent history
1 weak and 0 significant tornadoes make up Wasco County's 1-track record - none violent. NOAA has never logged an EF4 or EF5 crossing this county.
The dollar figure Wasco County's rating leads to
Cost nationally: $2,890-$13,280, about $7,645 typical. Oregon 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 Oregon this pass.
What a direct hit isn't required for
The storm that misses Wasco County outright can still take its power out - outbreak-scale outages across Oregon are common well beyond the tracked path. A battery-backup unit handles that without a generator's setup or fuel.
What this number is, and is not
One caveat before relying on Wasco County's number: it is county-wide, and it covers about 2,381 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. Wasco County has about 26,507 residents.