Extreme Cold

Hazard in Severe Weather

A slow-building health and infrastructure hazard — hypothermia, frozen pipes and heating failures that hit vulnerable residents first.

Plans also call it: cold wave, wind chill, hard freeze, frost, cold snap, extreme cold or freeze

Talk to us about Extreme ColdAll 73 hazards →

What you’d hand your council

The first page of a Extreme Cold evidence brief: likelihood, impact and readiness on your own scale, every figure sourced.

Evidence brief for Cedar Ridge County (example)

September 14, 2026

Extreme Cold

Hazard in Severe Weather, on the established threats & hazards list

Impact
5432112345

Likelihood

Likelihood
3

Possible — Expected occasionally — roughly once in 10 to 50 years (2–10% chance in any year).

Impact
3

Moderate — Notable effects — injuries possible, damage in multiple areas, essential services disrupted for days.

Readiness
4

High — The organization has a well-developed capability to manage this threat or hazard. Plans, personnel, resources, and skills are largely in place, and the capability has been meaningfully tested or demonstrated. Remaining gaps are unlikely to significantly impair performance.

  • 2source documents
  • 58verified mentions
  • 2federal declarations
  • 91.6NRI score, relatively high
Worked example: Cedar Ridge County is fictional. The scores illustrate the format and are nobody's decision. Open a full sample brief →

The national record

FEMA National Risk Index: Cold Wave

$9.9B
expected loss a year, nationally
341
counties rated high or very high

Your county’s own rating is the first thing we pull.

How it maps

The same hazard in the vocabularies your plan and FEMA already use.

FEMA National Risk Index
Cold Wave (CWAV)one of the 18 hazards NRI scores per county
FEMA declaration incident type
Freezing18 declarations on record
NOAA Storm Events type
Cold/Wind Chill, Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Frost/Freeze
Hazzard category
Severe Weather, natural hazards

The national record

What the federal data says about Extreme Cold

The same national sources a Hazzard brief starts from. For your jurisdiction we narrow each one to your county and its neighbors.

Where Extreme Cold is rated high

Share of each state's counties FEMA rates Relatively High or Very High

Alabama: 6 of 67 counties rated high (9%) · $153M expected loss a yearAlaska: 7 of 27 counties rated high (26%) · $80M expected loss a yearArizona: 0 of 11 counties rated high (0%) · $5M expected loss a yearArkansas: 1 of 75 counties rated high (1%) · $76M expected loss a yearCalifornia: 0 of 13 counties rated high (0%) · $705K expected loss a yearColorado: 6 of 63 counties rated high (10%) · $129M expected loss a yearConnecticut: 1 of 9 counties rated high (11%) · $23M expected loss a yearDelaware: 3 of 3 counties rated high (100%) · $38M expected loss a yearDistrict of Columbia: 1 of 1 counties rated high (100%) · $11M expected loss a yearFlorida: 10 of 67 counties rated high (15%) · $336M expected loss a yearGeorgia: 6 of 159 counties rated high (4%) · $213M expected loss a yearHawaii: 0 of 1 counties rated high (0%) · $0K expected loss a yearIdaho: 1 of 44 counties rated high (2%) · $63M expected loss a yearIllinois: 26 of 102 counties rated high (25%) · $1.4B expected loss a yearIndiana: 7 of 92 counties rated high (8%) · $255M expected loss a yearIowa: 2 of 99 counties rated high (2%) · $164M expected loss a yearKansas: 4 of 105 counties rated high (4%) · $199M expected loss a yearKentucky: 5 of 120 counties rated high (4%) · $169M expected loss a yearLouisiana: 12 of 64 counties rated high (19%) · $185M expected loss a yearMaine: 3 of 16 counties rated high (19%) · $47M expected loss a yearMaryland: 2 of 24 counties rated high (8%) · $50M expected loss a yearMassachusetts: 3 of 14 counties rated high (21%) · $49M expected loss a yearMichigan: 16 of 83 counties rated high (19%) · $448M expected loss a yearMinnesota: 12 of 87 counties rated high (14%) · $471M expected loss a yearMississippi: 9 of 82 counties rated high (11%) · $150M expected loss a yearMissouri: 8 of 115 counties rated high (7%) · $321M expected loss a yearMontana: 13 of 56 counties rated high (23%) · $244M expected loss a yearNebraska: 1 of 93 counties rated high (1%) · $74M expected loss a yearNevada: 0 of 13 counties rated high (0%) · $1M expected loss a yearNew Hampshire: 0 of 10 counties rated high (0%) · $16M expected loss a yearNew Jersey: 9 of 21 counties rated high (43%) · $136M expected loss a yearNew Mexico: 0 of 33 counties rated high (0%) · $21M expected loss a yearNew York: 11 of 62 counties rated high (18%) · $310M expected loss a yearNorth Carolina: 9 of 100 counties rated high (9%) · $191M expected loss a yearNorth Dakota: 5 of 53 counties rated high (9%) · $189M expected loss a yearOhio: 7 of 88 counties rated high (8%) · $226M expected loss a yearOklahoma: 11 of 77 counties rated high (14%) · $221M expected loss a yearOregon: 4 of 34 counties rated high (12%) · $57M expected loss a yearPennsylvania: 11 of 67 counties rated high (16%) · $256M expected loss a yearRhode Island: 1 of 5 counties rated high (20%) · $8M expected loss a yearSouth Carolina: 7 of 46 counties rated high (15%) · $152M expected loss a yearSouth Dakota: 5 of 66 counties rated high (8%) · $188M expected loss a yearTennessee: 10 of 95 counties rated high (11%) · $355M expected loss a yearTexas: 43 of 254 counties rated high (17%) · $1.1B expected loss a yearUtah: 0 of 27 counties rated high (0%) · $8M expected loss a yearVermont: 0 of 14 counties rated high (0%) · $18M expected loss a yearVirginia: 2 of 133 counties rated high (2%) · $76M expected loss a yearWashington: 5 of 37 counties rated high (14%) · $117M expected loss a yearWest Virginia: 2 of 55 counties rated high (4%) · $35M expected loss a yearWisconsin: 33 of 72 counties rated high (46%) · $806M expected loss a yearWyoming: 1 of 23 counties rated high (4%) · $56M expected loss a year
  • None
  • Up to 10%
  • 10–25%
  • 25–50%
  • Over 50%
  • Not rated
FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0, county table

18 federal declarations since 1971

Declarations FEMA filed as “Freezing”, by year (2026 to date)

0241971: 1 declaration1974: 1 declaration1977: 3 declarations1984: 2 declarations1985: 1 declaration1989: 1 declaration1990: 2 declarations1991: 1 declaration1994: 1 declaration1999: 1 declaration2001: 1 declaration2003: 1 declaration2007: 1 declaration2013: 1 declaration1977: 319801990200020102020
OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries, as of 2026-09-27. Counts distinct disasters; major, emergency and fire-management declarations.

In your plan

What a Extreme Cold profile needs, and where each part comes from

A local hazard mitigation plan profiles each hazard the same way (44 CFR 201.6). Here is how Hazzard fills each part for Extreme Cold.

  1. Location

    44 CFR 201.6(c)(2)(i)

    National data

    FEMA's National Risk Index rates Extreme Cold for every county. We place yours against its neighbors and the state, then add what your plans map in more detail.

  2. Extent

    44 CFR 201.6(c)(2)(i)

    Your documents

    The magnitude your plans use for Extreme Cold (a scale, a depth, an acreage, a duration), read from your documents and cited, so the profile states the strength you plan for.

  3. Previous occurrences

    44 CFR 201.6(c)(2)(i)

    National data

    Every FEMA declaration filed as Freezing that included your county, back to 1953, alongside the events your own records and after-action reports describe.

  4. Probability of future events

    44 CFR 201.6(c)(2)(i)

    National data

    NRI's annualized frequency for your county, and the declaration history, drafted into a likelihood on your own scale for your team to accept or change.

  5. Vulnerability and impacts

    44 CFR 201.6(c)(2)(ii)

    National data

    NRI's expected annual loss and social vulnerability for your county, the Census population profile and HHS emPOWER counts, with the impacts your plans already describe.

  6. The assessment itself

    Your team decides

    Likelihood, impact and readiness for Extreme Cold are drafted with every source attached, and a person on your team accepts each one. Hazzard never records a score on its own.

How we can help

How we’d help you prepare for Extreme Cold

  1. 1

    We pull your county's record

    FEMA's National Risk Index rating and expected loss, every disaster declaration, and the daily temperature record behind heat and cold, before we meet.

  2. 2

    We read the plans you already have

    Your hazard mitigation plan and EOP annexes, so you can see what they say about Extreme Cold and where the profile stops short.

  3. 3

    You leave with a cited brief

    Likelihood, impact and readiness for Extreme Cold on your own scale, every figure tied to its source, ready for the planning team or the council.

Also in Severe Weather

Preparing for Extreme Cold

Walk into your next plan update with Extreme Cold already sourced.

Severe weather is the part of a plan everyone assumes is covered. We check whether yours says why, with your county's own record instead of a regional average. A person replies within one business day.

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