Yates County, NY Tornado Risk & Storm Shelter Cost
How likely is a tornado in Yates County, NY?
Since 1954, NOAA has logged 5 tornado tracks crossing Yates County - one about every 15.2 years, which lands it in our Minimal band. Nationally, Yates County ranks at the 16th percentile for tornado frequency. Within New York alone, Yates County ranks 48 of 62 counties for tornado frequency.
Yates County's EF4-5 history
Yates County's record has no EF4-5 tornado - its 5 tracks split 5 weak and 0 significant. That does not rule one out in the future, only that none has been recorded since 1950.
What a storm shelter costs near Yates County
For a Yates County homeowner, budget $2,890-$13,280 for a shelter or safe room ($7,645 typical) - this pass found no New York-specific rebate on top of FEMA's underlying 75% national cost-share program.
The outage nobody plans for
Power loss after a tornado outbreak in New York often reaches homes the storm itself never touched. A battery-backup unit covers the outage without the fuel and venting a generator needs.
Read this before you rely on it
This is a county-level figure, not a per-address probability. Yates County covers about 338 square miles, so a single touch here counts the same as a single touch in a county a fraction of that size. Pre-radar-era records (before the 1990s) are also documented by NOAA as undercounting weaker tornadoes in sparsely-instrumented areas. Yates County has about 24,387 residents.