Polk County, Wisconsin

What hazards hit Polk County most?

The most frequent records are severe thunderstorm wind events: 212 since 1966. 58% of its severe thunderstorm wind events since 1966 fell in July and August. The rank column places the county among Wisconsin'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 Polk County had?

NOAA records 34 tornadoes in Polk County from 1952 to 2024, the strongest rated F3, with 4 deaths and 18 injuries recorded in the county. That is 29th of 72 Wisconsin 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 35 tornadoes whose track touched Polk County since 1950 (NOAA's county records number 34: they file a crossing tornado once per county segment, and the two databases differ on some tracks); along their whole tracks they killed 7 people, 4 of them in Polk County.

Map of the strongest tornado tracks in Wisconsin.

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 Polk County?

The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the May 16, 2017 hail ($602,000 in damage in 2025 dollars).

There was a swath of very large hail, up to baseball size, that fell from southwest of Amery, northeast to Clayton. Numerous photos from social media provided how large the hail became.
National Weather Service event narrative, NOAA Storm Events Database (search the full record, event 689536)

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

A damage figure marked "step" is a record from before 1993: NOAA then filed damage by category, and the figure is the category as entered, in the dollars of that year, not an estimate of the loss.

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 Polk 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).

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

What time of year?

58% of its severe thunderstorm wind events since 1966 fell in July and August. The two busiest months are in violet.

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

Federal disaster declarations for Polk County

FEMA's register lists 10 declarations that include Polk County: 6 major disasters, 4 emergencies and 0 fire management assistance declarations. Most were for biological (2) and flood (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 Polk County had?

NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 11 flood or flash flood records for Polk County from 1997 to 2019, on 10 days, with 0 deaths. By flood insurance claims since 1978 (OpenFEMA, as of September 8, 2026), Polk County ranks 2212th of 2,942 U.S. counties.

The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $105,000 on 15 claims filed in Polk County; the most in one year was 2 in 2021. 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 Polk County

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Polk County Relatively Low overall, with an expected annual loss of $23.0 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 Polk County

1. Washington County, MN 593
2. St. Croix County 573
3. Barron County 558
4. Polk County 520
5. Dunn County 504
6. Burnett County 482
7. Chisago County, MN 364

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 WisconsinEvery Wisconsin tornado since 1950 and the counties with the most per square mile
• Severe thunderstorm wind in WisconsinThe state's severe thunderstorm wind events, by county, year and month
• The Wisconsin recordEvery hazard in the state, its deadliest events and its federal declarations
• FEMA's risk rating for each hazard in Polk CountyThe hazard risk calculator: 18 hazards beside the county's record
• Download Polk County's FEMA declarations (CSV)10 rows: every declaration that named the county, for your own analysis