Severe Thunderstorm

Hazard in Severe Weather

A fast-forming convective hazard that bundles wind, hail, lightning and downpours into one event, often several times a season.

Plans also call it: severe storm, thunderstorm

Talk to us about Severe ThunderstormAll 73 hazards →

What you’d hand your council

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

Evidence brief for Cedar Ridge County (example)

September 14, 2026

Severe Thunderstorm

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

Impact
5432112345

Likelihood

Likelihood
4

Likely — Expected within the decade — roughly once in 1 to 10 years (10–100% chance in any year).

Impact
2

Minor — Limited effects — few injuries, damage confined to a small area, brief localized disruption of services.

Readiness
3

Moderate — The organization has a generally established capability to manage this threat or hazard, but identifiable gaps remain. The organization could likely perform many required actions, though effectiveness may vary depending on conditions, staffing, resources, or complexity.

  • 2source documents
  • 58verified mentions
  • 2federal declarations
  • —NRI risk score
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’s National Risk Index doesn’t model Severe Thunderstorm. Your team fills it with local evidence, and Hazzard shows the gap rather than a zero.

How it maps

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

FEMA National Risk Index
Not covered
FEMA declaration incident type
Severe Storm1,144 declarations on record
NOAA Storm Events type
Severe Thunderstorm
Hazzard category
Severe Weather, natural hazards

How it connects

Can lead to

The national record

What the federal data says about Severe Thunderstorm

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

1,144 federal declarations since 1956

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

040801956: 3 declarations1960: 2 declarations1962: 2 declarations1965: 1 declaration1969: 1 declaration1970: 2 declarations1973: 5 declarations1974: 1 declaration1975: 5 declarations1976: 3 declarations1977: 1 declaration1978: 2 declarations1979: 6 declarations1980: 2 declarations1981: 4 declarations1982: 2 declarations1983: 4 declarations1984: 3 declarations1985: 1 declaration1987: 2 declarations1989: 3 declarations1990: 11 declarations1991: 5 declarations1992: 8 declarations1993: 8 declarations1994: 20 declarations1995: 16 declarations1996: 28 declarations1997: 26 declarations1998: 41 declarations1999: 21 declarations2000: 34 declarations2001: 29 declarations2002: 22 declarations2003: 40 declarations2004: 44 declarations2005: 30 declarations2006: 46 declarations2007: 57 declarations2008: 62 declarations2009: 48 declarations2010: 60 declarations2011: 57 declarations2012: 28 declarations2013: 35 declarations2014: 23 declarations2015: 24 declarations2016: 16 declarations2017: 26 declarations2018: 17 declarations2019: 29 declarations2020: 19 declarations2021: 14 declarations2022: 24 declarations2023: 30 declarations2024: 44 declarations2025: 30 declarations2026 (to date): 17 declarations2008: 621960197019801990200020102020
OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries, as of 2026-09-27. Counts distinct disasters; major, emergency and fire-management declarations.

In your plan

What a Severe Thunderstorm 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 Severe Thunderstorm.

  1. Location

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

    Your documents

    No national layer maps Severe Thunderstorm. We draw the geographic extent from your plans, studies and annexes, cited to the page.

  2. Extent

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

    Your documents

    The magnitude your plans use for Severe Thunderstorm (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 Severe Storm 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)

    Your team decides

    No national dataset gives a frequency for Severe Thunderstorm. Your team scores likelihood on your scale from the evidence we organize.

  5. Vulnerability and impacts

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

    Your documents

    The Census population profile and HHS emPOWER counts for context; the consequences themselves come from your plans and exercises.

  6. The assessment itself

    Your team decides

    Likelihood, impact and readiness for Severe Thunderstorm 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 Severe Thunderstorm

  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 Severe Thunderstorm and where the profile stops short.

  3. 3

    You leave with a cited brief

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

Also in Severe Weather

Preparing for Severe Thunderstorm

Walk into your next plan update with Severe Thunderstorm 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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