Photo: TheWxResearcher · CC0Windsor is on Canada’s flood inventory: 2 listed, led by Essex Region Conservation Authority / County of Essex
Wildfire is rare near Windsor: 0.1% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.005% a year. Earthquake risk in Windsor is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.019 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, 14% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical).
What stands out about Windsor’s hazards
For Windsor, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Windsor faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Windsor isn’t graded for hazard risk yet
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Windsor with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Windsor: 0.1% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0.5% within 5 km
Past fire around Windsor’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
With 0.005% burned a year, Windsor is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
Only 0.4% of the land within 25 km of Windsor is forest fuel, and 0.2% close in.
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 Ontario · highest of 872
Windsor ranks 43rd of the 872 towns in Ontario for burn rate, at 0.005% a year; Sioux Lookout leads with 0.16%.
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.
Some fire is mapped around Windsor, but not enough to leave the low band, where 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are; 7.5% rank higher.
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.
Windsor is on the flood map inventory: 2 studies, latest by Essex Region Conservation Authority / County of Essex
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Windsor: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The newest of 2 studies covering Windsor is Essex Region Conservation Authority / County of Essex’s, from 2024; open its map to see the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essex Region | Essex Region Conservation Authority / County of Essex | 2024 | final |
| Little River Watershed Floodplain Mapping | City of Windsor | 2020 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
69% of towns in Ontario have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Windsor has one too.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping is shown for Windsor to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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.
Expected shaking damage in Windsor: $0.019 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.019 per $1,000, Windsor’s earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 0.6 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Ontario expects $0.043 a year in shaking damage; Windsor expects less, $0.019, and Alexandria the most, $0.21.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Earthquakes cost less around Windsor than in 66% of Canada’s 2,611 towns.
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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Windsor is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Test for radon in Windsor: 14% of area homes were over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Windsor’s survey area reads 14% over the guideline, well past the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit, Windsor included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Windsor than in most towns in Ontario: 14% over the guideline (4% is typical), 1% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
The 10–20% band holds 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, Windsor among them; 4.6% rank above.
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.
Radon varies from house to house in Windsor, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Windsor
Alerts for Windsor 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Windsor to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Windsor’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windsor | Low | $0.019 | 14% | Yes |
| South Walkerville 6,129 · 0.6 km | Low | $0.019 | 14% | None listed |
| Remington Park 5,783 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.019 | 14% | None listed |
| Fontainebleau 11,567 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.019 | 14% | Yes |
| Walkerville 19,541 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.019 | 14% | Yes |
| East Windsor 20,876 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.019 | 14% | Yes |
| South Central 10,392 · 3.0 km | Low | $0.019 | 14% | None listed |
The fire record around Walkerville is a touch heavier than Windsor’s, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Windsor faces
What to do about the hazards Windsor faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- 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
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Windsor until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Windsor, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Windsor without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Windsor’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in Windsor
Does Windsor flood?
A flood study covers Windsor on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
Is Windsor at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.1% of the land around Windsor since 1986 (last in 2010); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Windsor?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Windsor $0.019 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is Windsor’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Windsor isn’t graded yet: Canada’s single grading run will set its Risk from earthquakes, radon and, one way only, wildfire.
Is radon a problem in Windsor?
Around Windsor, 195 survey homes were tested and 14% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
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).