Bay County, MI
Hazard breakdown
| Hazard | NRI rating | NRI score | NOAA events (2016–2025) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wildfire | Very Low | 14.7 | 0 |
| Inland Flooding | Relatively Moderate | 81.5 | 4 |
| Coastal Flooding | Relatively Low | 45.8 | 0 |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 42.1 | — |
| Heat Wave | Relatively Low | 53.6 | 0 |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | 84 | 1 |
NOAA event counts are recorded county-level storm events from the NOAA Storm Events Database for 2016–2025. NOAA does not track earthquakes, and some hazard reports are filed by NWS forecast zone rather than county, so these counts are a partial, not exhaustive, record of recent activity. See the methodology page for details.
Federal disaster declaration history
Bay County has been included in 14 federal disaster declarations between 1965 and 2020, most recently for Biological in 2020 (COVID-19 ).
- Severe Storm 4
- Flood 4
- Biological 2
- Snowstorm 2
- Hurricane 1
Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries. Counts reflect county-level declaration records (a single disaster can produce more than one record per county), not modeled risk.
Geomagnetic latitude
Bay County sits at approximately 52.8°N geomagnetic latitude. Aurora can become visible on the horizon here during geomagnetic storms reaching roughly Kp 7 or higher (G3 – Strong on NOAA's scale). See current space weather conditions for live geomagnetic activity and aurora forecasts.
Geomagnetic latitude is an approximate dipole-model calculation based on this county's geographic centroid (US Census Bureau). See the methodology page for details and limitations.
What these ratings mean
Each score reflects how Bay County's expected losses from that hazard compare to every other county in the country, based on FEMA's National Risk Index. A "Very High" rating means this county is among the most exposed in the US for that hazard relative to other counties — it does not mean a disaster is likely this year. See the methodology page for how these scores are calculated.
- Very Low
- Relatively Low
- Relatively Moderate
- Relatively High
- Very High