SkyGround

County-level natural hazard risk data for researchers

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Van Buren County, MI

Population: 75,550 · FIPS code: 26159

Relatively Low Overall risk index: 60.5 / 100 (percentile among US counties)

Hazard breakdown

Hazard NRI rating NRI score NOAA events
(2016–2025)
Wildfire Very Low 26.4 0
Inland Flooding Relatively Low 62 0
Coastal Flooding Very Low 23.8 0
Earthquake Very Low 52.9 —
Heat Wave Relatively Low 44.2 0
Tornado Relatively Moderate 77 0

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

Van Buren County has been included in 13 federal disaster declarations between 1973 and 2020, most recently for Biological in 2020 (COVID-19 ).

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

Van Buren County sits at approximately 51.3°N geomagnetic latitude. Aurora can become visible on the horizon here during geomagnetic storms reaching roughly Kp 8 or higher (G4 – Severe 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 Van Buren 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.