SkyGround

County-level natural hazard risk data for researchers

All counties

Jefferson County, AL

Population: 673,766 · FIPS code: 01073

Relatively High Overall risk index: 97.6 / 100 (percentile among US counties)

Hazard breakdown

Hazard NRI rating NRI score NOAA events
(2016–2025)
Wildfire Relatively Low 79.1 0
Inland Flooding Relatively High 98.1 54
Coastal Flooding Not Applicable — 0
Earthquake Relatively Moderate 96.1 —
Heat Wave Relatively High 97.6 0
Tornado Very High 99.6 15

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

Jefferson County has been included in 39 federal disaster declarations between 1970 and 2024, most recently for Hurricane in 2024 (HURRICANE HELENE).

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

Jefferson County sits at approximately 42.5°N geomagnetic latitude. Aurora is rarely visible this far from the geomagnetic poles, even during the most severe (G5) geomagnetic storms — though historic extreme storms have occasionally been seen at unusually low latitudes. 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 Jefferson 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.