Ketchikan Gateway Borough

Population 13,549 (2025) 4,857 sq mi

Property owners in Ketchikan Gateway Borough have filed 11 federal flood insurance claims since 1978, 9th most of 30 counties in Alaska.

Hazard fingerprint for Ketchikan Gateway Borough Tornado: 0th percentile. Tropical: 0th percentile. Wildfire: 0th percentile. Flood: 0th percentile. Hail & wind: 1th percentile. Heat: 0th percentile. Cold: 0th percentile. Winter: 3th percentile. TORTROPFIREFLOODSEVEREHEATCOLDWINTER

Hazard fingerprint Each spoke is this county’s percentile among U.S. counties where that hazard occurs. How it is computed

At a glance

The record for Ketchikan Gateway Borough in eight numbers. Each links to its section below.

Flood insurance claims

11

9th of 30 in Alaska

$129,000 paid since 1980

Details

Federal disaster declarations

3

Most recent: Landslides, 2024

Details

Record high

96°F

June 25, 1913

Details

Record low

−7°F

January 23, 1916

Details

Snowiest season

82.4in

Winter of 1975-76

Tornadoes

No tornado is recorded here in the Storm Prediction Center database, which begins in 1950.

Hurricanes and tropical storms

No tropical storm or hurricane has tracked within 100 miles since records began in 1851.

Wildfire and smoke

No large wildfire has been mapped here since satellite mapping began in 1984.

Smoke overhead

Smokiest year

2023: 15 days

Heavy smoke on 4 days in 2019, the most of any year.

Last 10 years

4.7 days a year

Medium or heavy smoke, 2016 to 2025.

2025

2 days

Medium or heavy smoke. 4 so far in 2026.

Days with medium or heavy smoke overhead, by year 2011: 0 2012: 0 2013: 3 2014: 1 2015: 1 2016: 0 2017: 2 2018: 3 2019: 13 2020: 4 2021: 1 2022: 2 2023: 15 15 2024: 5 2025: 2 201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Days each year on which a satellite-traced plume of medium or heavy smoke covered the county’s population centre, 2011 to 2025.
  1. A smoke day is a date on which a smoke plume traced by NOAA Hazard Mapping System analysts from satellite imagery covered this place's point (the county's population centre or the city centre). Counts here are of medium or heavy smoke. Since 2018 analysts have often drawn light smoke as one area over most of the continent, so light-smoke counts are not comparable from year to year. The plumes show smoke anywhere in the air above, not air quality at the ground, and smoke hidden by cloud is missed.

NOAA Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, 2011 to 2026, retrieved October 30, 2026.

Floods and flood insurance

11 federal flood insurance claims since 1980, with $129,000 paid.

Federal flood insurance claims by year
Claims per year since 1980. Years with fewer than five claims are not shown.

Claims by ZIP code

Flood insurance claims by ZIP code
9990111$129,000

This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026. NOAA Storm Events through 2026.

River crests

Most severe crest

January 21, 2015

Lower Ketchikan Lake above Ketchikan Lake Dam near Ketchikan, 350.20 ft

1.20 feet above the 349.0 ft flood stage; moderate flooding by today’s categories.

Most recent moderate or major crest

December 5, 2020

Lower Ketchikan Lake above Ketchikan Lake Dam near Ketchikan, 350.10 ft

Moderate flooding.

Highest river crests above flood stage
Jan 21, 2015Lower Ketchikan Lake above Ketchikan Lake Dam near Ketchikan350.20+1.20Moderate
Dec 5, 2020Lower Ketchikan Lake above Ketchikan Lake Dam near Ketchikan350.10+1.10Moderate
Oct 8, 1974Fish Creek near Ketchikan5.19+0.69Moderate
Oct 17, 2023Ward Creek above Lake Connell Dam near Ketchikan253.00+1.00Minor
Dec 2, 2024Ward Creek above Lake Connell Dam near Ketchikan253.00+1.00Minor
Dec 5, 2020Ketchikan Creek at Ketchikan Powerhouse near Ketchikan64.29+0.79Minor
Oct 13, 2024Ward Creek above Lake Connell Dam near Ketchikan252.51+0.51Minor
Dec 27, 1979Fish Creek near Ketchikan4.91+0.41Minor
Nov 3, 1976Fish Creek near Ketchikan4.89+0.39Minor
Dec 14, 2013Lower Ketchikan Lake above Ketchikan Lake Dam near Ketchikan349.30+0.30Minor
May 24, 1999Fish Creek near Ketchikan4.77+0.27Minor
Dec 1, 2020Ketchikan Creek at Ketchikan Powerhouse near Ketchikan63.72+0.22Minor
Nov 22, 2019Ketchikan Creek at Ketchikan Powerhouse near Ketchikan63.61+0.11Minor
Oct 10, 1982Fish Creek near Ketchikan4.58+0.08Minor
Oct 6, 1980Fish Creek near Ketchikan4.500.00Minor
Nov 1, 2020Ketchikan Creek at Ketchikan Powerhouse near Ketchikan63.500.00Minor
Sep 21, 2023Ward Creek above Lake Connell Dam near Ketchikan252.000.00Minor
Feb 26, 2025Ward Creek above Lake Connell Dam near Ketchikan252.000.00Minor
Oct 6, 2024Ward Creek above Lake Connell Dam near Ketchikan252.000.00Minor
Nov 23, 2022Ward Creek above Lake Connell Dam near Ketchikan252.000.00Minor
Feb 2, 2023Ward Creek above Lake Connell Dam near Ketchikan252.000.00Minor
Nov 1, 1978Fish Creek near Ketchikan4.44−0.06Action
Feb 6, 1993Fish Creek near Ketchikan4.43−0.07Action
Sep 9, 2011Fish Creek near Ketchikan4.42−0.08Action
Nov 30, 1988Fish Creek near Ketchikan4.42−0.08Action

River gauges

River gauges and their highest listed crests
Carlanna Lake above Carlanna Lake Dam near Ketchikan524.0522.81 ftOct 5, 20220
Fish Creek near Ketchikan4.55.19 ftOct 8, 19740
Ketchikan Creek at Ketchikan Powerhouse near Ketchikan63.564.29 ftDec 5, 20200
Lower Ketchikan Lake above Ketchikan Lake Dam near Ketchikan349.0350.20 ftJan 21, 20150
Tongass Narrows Tide Gauge at Ketchikan (MLLW datum)21.0——0
Ward Creek above Lake Connell Dam near Ketchikan252.0253.00 ftOct 17, 20230
  1. Crests are the highest and the recent crests the National Weather Service lists for each river gauge in the county that has a flood stage, not every flood. Flood categories use each gauge's current flood stages; crests from before levees, dams or channel changes may not be comparable. Crests measured on an old datum are left out of the rankings.

NOAA National Water Prediction Service gauge records, retrieved October 30, 2026.

Drought

NOAA’s county drought index covers the lower 48 states only.

Earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis and landslides

2 earthquakes of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles since 1900; the largest was magnitude 4.3 in 2013.

5

Magnitude 2.5+ inside the county since 1973

10

Magnitude 3+ within 50 miles since 1973

2

Magnitude 4+ within 50 miles since 1900

0

Magnitude 5+ within 50 miles since 1900

Largest within 50 miles

April 29, 2013

Magnitude 4.3

60 km ENE of Thoms Place, Alaska; 5.5 miles away, 8.3 miles deep.

Most recent, magnitude 3 or more

October 9, 2022

Magnitude 3.8

61 km ESE of Metlakatla, Alaska; inside the county.

Earthquakes of magnitude 3 or more within 50 miles, by year 1973: 0 1974: 0 1975: 0 1976: 0 1977: 0 1978: 0 1979: 0 1980: 0 1981: 0 1982: 0 1983: 0 1984: 0 1985: 0 1986: 0 1987: 0 1988: 0 1989: 0 1990: 0 1991: 0 1992: 0 1993: 0 1994: 0 1995: 0 1996: 0 1997: 1 1998: 0 1999: 0 2000: 0 2001: 0 2002: 0 2003: 1 2004: 1 2005: 0 2006: 0 2007: 0 2008: 1 2009: 2 2 2010: 0 2011: 0 2012: 0 2013: 1 2014: 0 2015: 0 2016: 0 2017: 0 2018: 0 2019: 2 2020: 0 2021: 0 2022: 1 2023: 0 2024: 0 2025: 0 19731978198319881993199820032008201320182023
Per year, 1973 to 2025.

Every earthquake of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles

Earthquakes of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles
Apr 29, 20134.35.58.360 km ENE of Thoms Place, Alaska
Sep 6, 20044.229.33.171 km ENE of Wrangell, Alaska
  1. Earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more in the USGS Comprehensive Catalog since 1900. Within 50 miles means the epicentre lies within 50 miles of the county boundary (or inside the county).
  2. Small earthquakes were under-recorded before the modern seismic networks of the 1970s and are still missed in remote areas, so early decades read low. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them and mix scales (moment, local and body-wave).

USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, 1900 to present, retrieved October 30, 2026.

Tsunamis

Highest water recorded

Mar 28, 1964

2.0 ft, Ketchikan, AK

From Prince William Sound, AK (magnitude 9.2 earthquake).

On record

7 tsunamis

Since 1927.

Tsunamis recorded here
Oct 28, 2012British Columbia, M7.70.210
Mar 11, 2011Honshu Island, M9.10.410
Feb 27, 2010Central Chile, M8.80.210
Mar 28, 1964Prince William Sound, AK, M9.22.010
May 22, 1960Southern Chile, M9.50.210
Aug 22, 1949British Columbia, M8.12.030
Oct 24, 1927Se. Alaska, AK, M7.1—10
  1. Places where NOAA's Global Historical Tsunami Database records a tsunami's water arriving, with the greatest height it reached above sea level at the time. Only tsunamis NOAA rates probable or definite are counted. Heights from eyewitness accounts and tide gauges are mixed, and older events are less completely recorded.

NOAA NCEI/WDS Global Historical Tsunami Database, retrieved October 30, 2026.

Volcanoes within 100 miles

Volcanoes within 100 miles
Behm Canal-Rudyerd Bay0.6Very low1,640
Tlevak Strait-Suemez Island49.5Very low164
Duncan Canal57.4Very low49
  1. U.S. volcanoes within 100 miles, from the USGS Volcano Hazards Program. The threat category is the USGS 2018 National Volcanic Threat Assessment, which ranks volcanoes by how hazardous their past eruptions were and how many people and how much infrastructure lie near them. It is not a forecast of eruption.

USGS Volcano Hazards Program, retrieved October 30, 2026.

Mapped landslides

8,360

Landslides mapped, probable or better

177

With a recorded date

3

Source inventories

Mapped by USDA-FS AK Tongass (8,281), AK DOT (77), NASA (2).

  1. Landslides mapped in the USGS compilation of landslide inventories across the United States (version 3.0, 2025), rated probable or better. The compilation joins inventories made by federal and state agencies for different purposes and areas, so the number mapped in a county reflects how closely it has been surveyed as much as how often its slopes fail. An area with few records may simply not have been mapped. Deaths are as recorded in the inventories; a slide listed in two inventories is counted once.

USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0, retrieved October 27, 2026.

Severe weather and other events

22 events in the National Weather Service record, 22 of them since 1996.

0

Hail reports, 1 inch or larger

0

Hail, 2 inches or larger

0

Damaging gusts, 58 mph+

5

Winter weather events since 1996

0

Heat events since 1996

0

Cold events since 1996

  1. Storm Events records before 1996 cover only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail. Damage figures are as reported by the National Weather Service at the time, not adjusted for inflation.

NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, 1950 to 2026, issued October 26, 2026.

Weather records

From Ketchikan Airport, 1.9 miles from the county’s population centre, with records from 1910.

All-time high
96°FJun 25, 1913
All-time low
−7°FJan 23, 1916
Warmest night
69°FJul 30, 2009
Coldest day
5°FJan 29, 1947
Wettest day
8.71 inOct 11, 1977
Snowiest day
31.0 inFeb 6, 1911
Hottest year
1958mean 48.8°F
Coldest year
1917mean 42.4°F
Wettest year
2005196.03 in
Driest year
199588.37 in
Snowiest season
82.4 in1975-76
Average monthly high and low temperature and precipitation, last 30 years, Ketchikan Airport 32°F 40° 31° 16.5 Jan 41° 31° 10.9 Feb 44° 32° 11.3 Mar 50° 36° 10.4 Apr 57° 43° 9.1 May 61° 49° 6.9 Jun 65° 53° 7.1 Jul 65° 53° 11.2 Aug 59° 48° 15.2 Sep 51° 41° 17.9 Oct 44° 35° 16.7 Nov 40° 32° 15.3 Dec Precipitation, inches
Average daily high and low by month, and average monthly precipitation, over the last 30 years.
Nights at or below freezing per year 1976: 113 1977: 104 1979: 84 1984: 67 1989: 85 1990: 94 1991: 67 1992: 74 1993: 65 1994: 54 1995: 66 1996: 79 1997: 85 1998: 91 1999: 99 2000: 86 2001: 85 2002: 119 2003: 100 2004: 90 2005: 83 2006: 127 127 2007: 99 2008: 93 2009: 104 2010: 62 2011: 90 2012: 90 2013: 63 2014: 62 2015: 44 2016: 44 2017: 92 2018: 57 2019: 75 2020: 83 2021: 100 2022: 69 2023: 55 2024: 65 2025: 63 19761995200520152025
Nights at or below freezing each complete year, last 50 years. Thirty-year average: 81.8.
Snowfall by winter 1930: 17.0 in 1932: 50.1 in 1934: 20.5 in 1935: 14.4 in 1936: 39.2 in 1937: 22.6 in 1938: 22.0 in 1939: 1.5 in 1940: 12.7 in 1941: 13.4 in 1942: 65.8 in 1943: 9.3 in 1944: 18.8 in 1945: 45.5 in 1946: 67.3 in 1947: 55.9 in 1960: 19.0 in 1961: 44.7 in 1963: 35.6 in 1964: 73.2 in 1972: 42.5 in 1973: 77.1 in 1975: 82.4 in 82.4 1978: 40.0 in 1979: 40.8 in 193019421972
Total snowfall each winter (July to June), last 50 winters.

Median first snow

November 28

Earliest: October 18, 1930

Median last snow

March 21

Latest: May 12, 1964

0 of 28 winters had no measurable snow.

Station Ketchikan Airport (USW00025325), 84 ft elevation, 1.9 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1910 to October 26, 2026; 99.5% of days in the last 30 years are complete. Records at a single station can differ from a city’s official threaded record, which may combine several stations.

NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily.

Federal disaster declarations

3 since 1953. The most recent: Landslides, November 13, 2024.

Federal disaster declarations
Nov 13, 2024Mud/LandslideLandslidesMajor disasterDR-4846-AK
Apr 9, 2020BiologicalCovid-19 PandemicMajor disasterDR-4533-AK
Mar 13, 2020BiologicalCovid-19EmergencyEM-3446-AK

This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries, retrieved October 30, 2026. Statewide declarations are not listed.

How this compares

Where Ketchikan Gateway Borough stands among 30 counties in Alaska and 3,143 in the United States.

Ranks
Tornadoes since 19500——
Tornadoes rated F3/EF3 or stronger0——
Tropical cyclones within 50 mi0——
Hurricane-strength passes within 50 mi0——
Wildfire acres since 19840——
Flood insurance claims119 / 302,296 / 3,143
Flood insurance paid$129,0009 / 302,282 / 3,143
Disaster declarations316 / 303,124 / 3,143
Flood events since 19960——
Hail and wind events since 1996179 / 303,081 / 3,143
Winter storm events since 1996521 / 302,957 / 3,143
Reported damage since 1996$0——
River crests at major flood stage0——
High tide flooding days a year, last 10 years0.0——
Months in severe drought since 18950——
Medium or heavy smoke days a year, last 10 years4.713 / 303,073 / 3,143
Earthquakes M4+ within 50 mi since 1900228 / 301,151 / 3,143
Earthquakes M2.5+ in the county since 1973526 / 30460 / 3,143

Neighbouring counties

Neighbouring counties
Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area0000
Wrangell City and Borough0000

Sources and vintage

Every number on this page comes from these public records.

  • Tornadoes NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, through 2025.
  • Tropical cyclones NOAA National Hurricane Center HURDAT2 (Atlantic; Northeast and Central Pacific), through 2025.
  • Wildfire USGS/USFS Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity, through 2026.
  • Storm events NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, through 2026.
  • Flood insurance OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026.
  • Declarations OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2, retrieved October 30, 2026.
  • Weather records NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily, station USW00025325.
  • River crests NOAA National Weather Service, National Water Prediction Service river gauges, retrieved October 30, 2026.
  • Drought NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, through September 2026.
  • Smoke NOAA NESDIS Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, retrieved October 30, 2026.
  • Tsunamis NOAA NCEI/WDS Global Historical Tsunami Database.
  • Volcanoes USGS Volcano Hazards Program, U.S. volcanoes and 2018 threat assessment.
  • Landslides USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0 (2025).
  • Earthquakes USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat), retrieved October 30, 2026.

Joins, thresholds and known limits are set out in the methodology. Found an error? Report it. Page built October 30, 2026.