Fergus County, Montana

What hazards hit Fergus County most?

The most frequent records are high wind and dust records: 305 since 2001. The rank column places the county among Montana's counties by days with a record per 1,000 square miles of land over each hazard's complete period.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database (county and forecast-zone records attributed to the county; a zone record shows its own totals on each county it covers). Days: dates with at least one record of the hazard in the county. Ranks: days with a record per 1,000 square miles of land (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer), since 1950 for tornadoes, 1955 for hail and thunderstorm wind, 1996 for the rest.

How many tornadoes has Fergus County had?

NOAA records 27 tornadoes in Fergus County from 1964 to 2005, the strongest rated F2, with 0 deaths and 3 injuries recorded in the county. That is 6th of 56 Montana counties by days with tornadoes per 1,000 square miles since 1950. A tornado that crossed a county line is counted in each county it touched, with the length of its path inside the county.

Counted as whole tornadoes rather than county records, the Storm Prediction Center's database holds 28 tornadoes whose track touched Fergus County since 1950 (NOAA's county records number 27: they file a crossing tornado once per county segment, and the two databases differ on some tracks); along their whole tracks they killed 0 people.

Map of the strongest tornado tracks in Montana.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, tornado records by county (path length in the county, maximum width); ratings as published: F scale before February 1, 2007, EF scale after. Whole-track figures: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database (1950-2025). SPC severe weather database.

When was the last damaging storm in Fergus County?

The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the July 28, 2025 thunderstorm wind ($1,000 in damage in 2025 dollars).

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database; every record of 2025-2026 is listed, earlier ones when they caused deaths, injuries or $250,000 of damage (2025 dollars), and every tornado.

The deadliest and costliest records

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: deaths and injuries direct and indirect; damage is property plus crops as estimated by the National Weather Service, converted to 2025 dollars.

Is it getting more frequent?

Records per decade for Fergus County's most frequent hazards. Counts rose everywhere after 1996, when NOAA began recording every event type, so compare decades within a hazard's complete period only (the shaded cells come before it).

High wind and dust storms in the 2010s: 89 records against 29 in the decade before, 89 of them forecast-zone records. Cells marked z rose mostly through zone records. The local National Weather Service office files these once per forecast zone, so a change in how it draws its zones or splits a storm into records moves this count as much as the weather does; read it beside the Fergus County days with a record above.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records per calendar decade; zone records from the CZ_TYPE field (Z).

What time of year?

Records by month in Fergus County. The two busiest months are in violet.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records by the month they began.

Federal disaster declarations for Fergus County

FEMA's register lists 10 declarations that include Fergus County: 8 major disasters, 2 emergencies and 0 fire management assistance declarations. Most were for flood (4) and severe storm (2).

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2), declarations through October 2, 2026; one declaration is counted once however many areas it names. OpenFEMA dataset page.

How many floods has Fergus County had?

NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 16 flood or flash flood records for Fergus County from 2001 to 2023, on 14 days, with 0 deaths. By flood insurance claims since 1978 (OpenFEMA, as of September 8, 2026), Fergus County ranks 1960th of 2,942 U.S. counties.

The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $244,000 on 27 claims filed in Fergus County; the most in one year was 14 in 2011. Claims count insured losses only: uninsured flood damage is not in this file.

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims, as of September 8, 2026; claims by year of loss, payments in the dollars of the year paid. OpenFEMA dataset page.

FEMA's modeled risk for Fergus County

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Fergus County Relatively Low overall, with an expected annual loss of $13.7 million. These are FEMA's model estimates of future loss from 18 hazards, not a count of what happened; they can differ from the record above.

Source: FEMA National Risk Index, county table, December 2025 release. FEMA's National Risk Index map.

Counties that share a border with Fergus County

1. Phillips County 1,330
2. Fergus County 1,027
3. Chouteau County 768
4. Wheatland County 720
5. Judith Basin County 684
6. Blaine County 566
7. Musselshell County 494
8. Petroleum County 389
9. Golden Valley County 386

Source: U.S. Census Bureau county adjacency file; NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records since 1950. The Census Bureau's adjacency file.

Next

• Tornadoes in MontanaEvery Montana tornado since 1950 and the counties with the most per square mile
• High wind and dust storms in MontanaThe state's high wind and dust records, by county, year and month
• The Montana recordEvery hazard in the state, its deadliest events and its federal declarations
• FEMA's risk rating for each hazard in Fergus CountyThe hazard risk calculator: 18 hazards beside the county's record
• Download Fergus County's FEMA declarations (CSV)10 rows: every declaration that named the county, for your own analysis