Hazard risk in Lynnwood is lower than in 98% of Canadian towns
Around Lynnwood, wildfire is practically absent from the record: 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.013 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). In Health Canada’s survey, just 1.4% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Lynnwood grades A+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Lynnwood’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Lynnwood: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Lynnwood faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Lynnwood: A+
Earthquake risk and radon make Lynnwood’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #11 of 474 in Alberta and #22 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Only 73 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Lynnwood has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Lynnwood’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
In a typical year 0.000% of the land near Lynnwood burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
Nothing inside 5 km of Lynnwood’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 24 km off.
Around Lynnwood the forest is thin or far off: 0.6% of the land within 5 km and 0.5% within 25 km is forest fuel.
Shares of land within 5 and 25 km of populated blocks: burned at least once in 1986–2025 (CWFIS burned-area composite), forest fuel and grass (fire behaviour fuel types, 2026, 250 m grid).
Burn rate a year, towns in Alberta · highest of 478
Fire has taken almost none of the land around Lynnwood, as for 386 of the 478 towns in Alberta; Wainwright tops the list at 1.43%.
Each bar: the yearly average share of land within 25 km of a town’s homes that burned, 1986–2025 (CWFIS); the seven highest towns of 2,500 people or more.
Lynnwood shares the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, its burn rate rounding to nothing; 7.5% burn faster.
Bands of the yearly burn rate: low under 0.05%, moderate under 0.25%, high under 1%, very high 1% or more; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Canadian Wildland Fire Information System: National Burned Area Composite 1986–2025 and fire behaviour fuel types (2026), Natural Resources Canada. Measured within 25 km and 5 km of each populated dissemination area; past fire, not a forecast.
Government of Alberta has mapped flooding for Lynnwood (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Lynnwood: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
For Lynnwood the inventory points to Government of Alberta’s 2024 study, whose map is the one to check.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Saskatchewan River Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2024 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Lynnwood is one of the 46% of towns in Alberta with a flood study on file, fewer than Canada’s 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Lynnwood floods.
The inventory’s own caution (NRCan): “The Canada Flood Map (CFM) does not include every flood hazard map in Canada and may be incomplete or contain inaccuracies. It should not be relied upon as the official source of flood mapping information. Furthermore, if a map appears to be missing, this does not necessarily mean that the area has never been mapped. For the official version of a map, updated information, or confirmation of applicable regulations, please contact the local authority responsible for flood mapping.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Low seismic risk in Lynnwood: $0.013 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Lynnwood it is only $0.013, 0.4 times as much.
Figures for earthquake risk are published for the city of Edmonton as a whole, not for Lynnwood alone.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in Alberta is $0.013; Lynnwood, at $0.013, is right beside it, and Black Diamond tops the list at $0.048.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
75% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Lynnwood.
Each column: the share of Canada’s towns of 2,500 people or more in that range of yearly loss per $1,000 (NRCan, 2022).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Lynnwood’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
1.4% of homes tested around Lynnwood are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Fewer homes than usual test high around Lynnwood: 1.4% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in Alberta is 7.5% over 200 Bq/m³; around Lynnwood it is 1.4%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Few tests over the guideline: Lynnwood shares the bottom band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below the other 63%.
Each bar: the share of Canada’s towns of 2,500 people or more whose survey area had that share of tests over 200 Bq/m³.
The survey sampled homes around Lynnwood; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Area behind the radon tests figures: the Capital Health
Weather and fire alerts for Lynnwood
Alerts for Lynnwood come from Environment and Climate Change Canada and, for emergencies, Alert Ready.
| Alert | What it means |
|---|---|
| Warning | Severe weather is happening or about to: act now. |
| Watch | Conditions favour severe weather: be ready. |
| Advisory | Weather that is less severe but could disrupt the day. |
| Special weather statement | Unusual weather worth knowing about. |
| Special air quality statement | Poor air, often wildfire smoke. |
Evacuation orders for Lynnwood come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Lynnwood
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lynnwood | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Meadowlark Park 2,671 · 0.7 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Jasper Park 3,219 · 0.9 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Elmwood 2,522 · 1.1 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | None listed |
| Patricia Heights 4,355 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Laurier Heights 3,048 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
| Parkview 5,729 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.013 | 1.4% | Yes |
Meadowlark Park (low) has the heaviest fire record of Lynnwood’s neighbours, and Lynnwood (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Lynnwood faces
Practical steps for Lynnwood’s hazards, most pressing first.
- Test for three months in winter.
- Over 200 Bq/m³: fix it.
- Kits are cheap; pros test too.
- Never drive through floodwater.
- Move papers and medicines upstairs.
- Ask whether your street is mapped.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Lynnwood’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Lynnwood’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Lynnwood.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Lynnwood is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Lynnwood
How is Lynnwood’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Lynnwood’s Hazard risk grade is A+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Lynnwood?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Lynnwood $0.013 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Does Lynnwood flood?
There is flood mapping for Lynnwood on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
Is radon a problem in Lynnwood?
The area’s survey found 1.4% of 73 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Lynnwood.
Is Lynnwood at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Lynnwood’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2023) is short of the level that counts.
Seismic risk: Natural Resources Canada. Radon: Health Canada. Wildfire: Canadian Wildland Fire Information System. Flood studies: Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.
Sources: NRCan, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model 2022 · Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes · CWFIS, National Burned Area Composite and FBP fuel types · NRCan, Canada Flood Map Inventory. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).