FEMA disaster type · OpenFEMA declarations
Straight-Line Winds disasters in the United States
FEMA disaster declarations classified as "Straight-Line Winds" from 2024 to 2026 - which states are hit most often and how the count has changed over time.
- 6
- FEMA declarations
- 4
- States affected
- 2024
- Earliest year
- 2026
- Latest year
The verdict
According to FEMA's disaster declaration history, straight-line winds ranks #19 of the 27 distinct disaster types the agency has declared, accounting for 0.1% of all 5,218 declarations on record. It is rarer than 69% of the other declaration types FEMA tracks, based on total historical volume.
- #19 of 27
- FEMA disaster types, by declaration volume
- 0.1%
- share of all 5,218 FEMA declarations
- 6
- straight-line winds declarations, 2024–2026
Ranking reflects the count of Presidentially declared federal disasters per OpenFEMA, not event severity or economic loss; a rare declaration type can still be individually catastrophic.
How does Straight-Line Winds compare?
Straight-Line Winds vs. every FEMA declaration type
Declaration volume across all tracked incident types
6 19th percentile higher than 19% of 27 disaster types
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more disaster types. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 · 2026-08-03
What shapes the straight-line winds record?
States with the most straight-line winds declarations
Wider bars = more FEMA declarations of this type
- Montana
Montana
3 declarations
- Idaho 1
Idaho
1 declarations
- Minnesota 1
Minnesota
1 declarations
- South Dakota 1
South Dakota
1 declarations
What this shows Montana leads with 3 straight-line winds declarations among the states shown.
How common are Straight-Line Winds disasters in the U.S.?
With so few declarations on record, the year-by-year pattern is necessarily sparse. The peak year on record was 2026, with 5 straight-line winds declarations issued that single year, a clustering driven by major multi-state events and the federal government's declaration cadence. The most recent year on record is 2026, with 5 declarations. Trends over the 2+ year history reflect how infrequently this disaster type crosses the federal declaration threshold at all.
FEMA has issued 6 federal disaster declarations classified as straight-line winds between 2024 and 2026, affecting 4 states and territories. Each declaration represents a formal federal recognition that an event exceeded state and local response capacity, unlocking Public Assistance, Individual Assistance, or Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funding depending on the declaration class (DR, EM, or FM). Raw declaration counts therefore measure the federal response footprint, which is a lagging and thresholded indicator: smaller events handled entirely at the state level never appear, and declaration thresholds have been recalibrated over the dataset's multi-decade history.
This disaster type's footprint is thin and scattered across the map. The three states with the most straight-line winds declarations on record are MT (3 declarations), ID (1 declarations), MN (1 declarations), consistent with how narrowly this hazard type is geographically concentrated. States with the fewest declarations, including ID (1), MN (1), SD (1), unsurprising given how rare a federal declaration of this type is anywhere in the country.
What is actually in FEMA's straight-line winds file?
The complete OpenFEMA record is small enough to inspect title by title: 6 declaration rows resolve to 3 named records. A row is a federal administrative action, not necessarily a separate physical event.
- SEVERE WINTER STORM AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS: Montana; Major Disaster (DR); 2026-05-29, 2026-04-07. OpenFEMA carries 2 declaration rows under this title.
- STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS: Idaho, South Dakota, Montana; Major Disaster (DR); 2026-04-07, 2026-04-07, 2024-08-23. OpenFEMA carries 3 declaration rows under this title.
- SEVERE STORMS AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS: Minnesota; Major Disaster (DR); 2025-10-22.
The repeated SEVERE WINTER STORM AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS titles show why declaration totals should not be read as a literal incident count.
Which federal declaration does straight-line winds actually get?
With only 6 declarations on record, this type is too thin to express as a reliable percentage split, so the raw breakdown is: 6 Major Disaster (DR). Each federal instrument carries different assistance: a Major Disaster declaration can unlock Individual Assistance and Hazard Mitigation funding, an Emergency declaration is narrower and faster, and Fire Management Assistance covers firefighting costs during an active incident.
Declarations by State
| # | State | Declarations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Montana MT | 3 |
| 2 | Idaho ID | 1 |
| 3 | Minnesota MN | 1 |
| 4 | South Dakota SD | 1 |
Declarations by Year
| Year | Declarations |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 5 |
| 2024 | 1 |
Recent Straight-Line Winds Declarations
Download all 6 declarations as CSV . Source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0. The table below lists the 6 most recent; the file carries every one.
| DR# | Title | State | Type | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4915 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | MT | DR | 2026-05-29 |
| 4902 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | MT | DR | 2026-04-07 |
| 4905 | STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | ID | DR | 2026-04-07 |
| 4903 | STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | SD | DR | 2026-04-07 |
| 4894 | SEVERE STORMS AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | MN | DR | 2025-10-22 |
| 4813 | STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | MT | DR | 2024-08-23 |
What this means for Straight-Line Winds declarations
Straight-Line Winds is rarer than 69% of the other declaration types FEMA tracks, with 6 FEMA declaration records; Montana leads with 3.
- Montana accounts for the largest share of straight-line winds declarations in this corpus. Montana profile
- See how states compare on raw FEMA declaration volume across all incident types. Most disasters ranking
- Learn what a FEMA declaration does and does not measure relative to NOAA storm events. Disaster-data guide
A federal declaration is a legal assistance trigger, not a count of every storm event or a forecast. For current threats follow the National Weather Service and local officials; in an emergency call 911.
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Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 For informational purposes only
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Verify declarations with FEMA → Verify storm-event context with NOAA →
Every figure on PlainHazard is rendered directly from FEMA federal disaster data, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or national statistics report, the data & editorial changelog, or report a data error.