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Glacier County, Montana: hazard history

What federal records show has already happened here: disaster declarations, storms, and flood insurance claims. This is a record of the past. It is not a forecast and not a hazard score.

At a glance

Storm events recorded by NOAA
599
1996 to 2026
People killed and injured in those events
0 / 3
Deaths (direct and indirect) / injuries (direct)
Property damage NOAA recorded
$50K
Nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation
FEMA disaster declarations naming this county
12
1974 to 2025
NFIP flood insurance claims
7
1978 to 2012; a count, not a rate
NFIP payments on those claims
$15K
Nominal dollars

What this means

  • The event NOAA recorded most often here is High Wind, with 366 records.
  • The costliest single record is Debris Flow in 2023: $50K in property damage, in the dollars of that year.
  • FEMA has declared 12 disasters that named this county, most often for flood.
  • The worst year for flood insurance claims was 1997, with 2 claims.

What this can't tell you

  • What happens next. Past events do not set the odds of the next one.
  • Anything before 1996 from NOAA. That is when NOAA began recording every event type; earlier files hold only tornado, hail and wind, so they are left out on purpose.
  • Today's cost. Damage and payments are in the dollars of the year they happened.
  • A flood rate. NFIP counts claims but not how many homes were insured, and many flooded homes carry no flood insurance.
  • Earthquakes, wildfire perimeters or radar-detected hail. Those records are not tied to counties.

Federal disaster declarations (FEMA)

FEMA declared 12 disasters that named Glacier County between 1974 and 2025.

FEMA disaster declarations naming Glacier County, by incident type
Incident typeDisastersMost recent
Flood31986
Severe Storm32016
Biological22020
Drought11977
Fire12000
Hurricane12005
Straight-Line Winds12025

Most recent declarations

  • DR-4902 2025 · Straight-Line Winds · Severe Winter Storm And Straight-line Winds
  • DR-4508 2020 · Biological · Covid-19 Pandemic
  • EM-3476 2020 · Biological · Covid-19
  • DR-4271 2016 · Severe Storm · Severe Winter Storm And Straight-line Winds
  • DR-1996 2011 · Severe Storm · Severe Storms And Flooding
  • EM-3253 2005 · Hurricane · Hurricane Katrina Evacuation
  • DR-1424 2002 · Severe Storm · Severe Storms And Flooding
  • DR-1340 2000 · Fire · Wildfires
  • DR-761 1986 · Flood · Heavy Rains, Landslides & Flooding
  • EM-3050 1977 · Drought · Drought

Not counted above: 30 statewide declarations, which covered every county in Montana. A declaration is a decision to send federal help, not a measure of how bad an event was. Records run from 1953. Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries.

Storms recorded by NOAA, by type

NOAA storm event records for Glacier County, 1996 to 2026, by event type
Event typeRecordsDeathsInjuriesProperty damage
High Wind36600$0
Hail6500$0
Thunderstorm Wind4300$0
Heavy Rain3200$0
Winter Storm2500$0
Heavy Snow2300$0
Blizzard1200$0
Extreme Cold/Wind Chill1000$0
Flood600$0
Dense Fog300$0
Cold/Wind Chill200$0
Flash Flood200$0
Funnel Cloud200$0
Wildfire200$0
Winter Weather200$0
Debris Flow100$50K
Freezing Fog100$0
Lightning103$0
Tornado100$0

Records start in 1996. Damage is NOAA's estimate at the time, in nominal dollars, and is often rounded; it is not insurance claims data. A storm that crossed two NOAA zones in this county is recorded, and counted, once per zone.

Year by year

NOAA storm event records in Glacier County each year. The busiest year was 2022, with 68 records.

Show the numbers for every year
NOAA storm event records in Glacier County by year
YearRecordsDeathsProperty damage
199680$0
1997120$0
200050$0
2001240$0
2002250$0
2003240$0
2004150$0
200590$0
2006170$0
2007170$0
2008160$0
2009130$0
2010260$0
2011260$0
2012200$0
2013400$0
2014310$0
2015150$0
2016120$0
2017160$0
2018120$0
2019580$0
2020430$0
2021370$0
2022680$0
202320$50K
202410$0
202550$0
202620$0

Years with no record are left out of the table, not shown as zero.

Notable events

Costliest records

  1. Debris Flow · Jun 8, 2023$50K
    NOAA name: GLACIER · NOAA record 1105734

Each line is one NOAA record, linked to its page at NOAA. One large storm can appear more than once if NOAA recorded it in several zones of this county. Dollars are nominal.

Flood insurance claims (NFIP)

The National Flood Insurance Program paid $15K on 7 claims in Glacier County from 1978 to 2012.

Years with the most NFIP claims in Glacier County
YearClaimsPaid
19972$2K
19912$377
20121$11K
19891$0
19781$1K

A count of claims, not a rate: NFIP publishes no count of insured homes beside it, and most flood damage is uninsured. Nominal dollars. Records run from 1978 to 2024; claims filed without a county code are not on any county page. Source: FEMA OpenFEMA FIMA NFIP Redacted Claims.

Hazard vulnerability analysis: the probability column for a facility in Glacier County

A hazard vulnerability analysis rates each hazard for probability, impact, preparedness and response. Probability is the one column the county’s federal record can fill — NCEI storm events from 1996 to 2026 and FEMA declarations naming the county — and this is what it says for a facility here, on the 0–3 scale of the all-hazards structure surveyors expect. The other six columns are the facility’s own judgment about its building, and Calchis leaves them blank.

HazardProb.Basis, from the county record
Severe Thunderstorm3109 NCEI events over 31 years (3.52/yr). 3 federal disaster declarations naming the county.
Flood, External340 NCEI events over 31 years (1.29/yr). 3 federal disaster declarations naming the county.
Snow Fall / Blizzard / Ice Storm363 NCEI events over 31 years (2.03/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county.
High Wind (non-convective)3366 NCEI events over 31 years (11.81/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county.
Hurricane / Tropical Storm2No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 31 years. 1 federal disaster declaration naming the county.
Temperature Extremes212 NCEI events over 31 years (0.39/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county.
Drought2No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 31 years. 1 federal disaster declaration naming the county.
Wild Fire22 NCEI events over 31 years (0.06/yr). 1 federal disaster declaration naming the county.
Epidemic22 federal disaster declarations naming the county.
Tornado11 NCEI event over 31 years (0.03/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county.
Earthquake1No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county.
Landslide11 NCEI event over 31 years (0.03/yr). No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county.
Tidal Wave / Tsunami1No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 31 years. No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county.
Volcano1No events of this kind on the county's NCEI record over 31 years. No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county.
Dam Inundation1No federal disaster declaration of this kind has named the county.

A dash means the record does not speak to that hazard; it is not a zero. Whether a finished document satisfies the CMS Emergency Preparedness Rule is the facility’s finding and its surveyor’s. Complete the HVA for a facility in Glacier County — the technological, human and hazardous-materials rows, the six facility columns, the approval and the printed document — or read the sample analysis on that page first.

How this page was made

  • Every figure is counted from public federal records held by Calchis: NOAA NCEI Storm Events, FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations, and FEMA NFIP claims. Nothing is modeled or estimated.
  • NOAA files some events by county and others by forecast zone, and names both. Records are counted as Glacier County when their NOAA name is this county's name, alone or with a word like “Coastal” or “Inland” in front. The county codes NOAA also publishes have not been loaded for Montana yet; when they are, this page will count by code instead, and some counties' records will grow. NOAA names counted here: EASTERN GLACIER, Eastern Glacier, GLACIER. Zones named for something else, such as a mountain range or two counties at once, are left out: 24% of Montana's NOAA records.
  • Counts last rebuilt from the source records on Sep 15, 2026.
  • This county's NOAA record is short (under 100 records, under 10 with damage, or under 10 years), so this page is not offered to search engines. It is still accurate.

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Recorded history from federal public records. Not a hazard score, a risk score, or a forecast, and not a substitute for professional actuarial or emergency-management assessment. Decision-support intelligence — not a primary alerting or dispatch system. Verify against official sources.