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Utah

The recorded hazard history of every county in Utah: storm events since 1950, federal disaster declarations since 1953, and National Flood Insurance Program claims since 1978.

Utah has 12,095 weather events in the NCEI Storm Events record since 1950 across 29 counties, led by winter storms and snow: 14.7 per 100 square miles against 56.0 nationally.

NCEI attributes 257 deaths and 1,901 injuries to those events, with property damage estimated at $1.1B. By events per 100 square miles the leading counties are Salt Lake, Davis and Weber.

FEMA lists 61 disaster declarations touching the state since 1953, most recently Rocky Canyon Fire (9 Aug 2026). NFIP policyholders filed 1,216 flood claims since 1978, $8.1M paid; 3,169 residential policies are in force.

430events, last 12 monthsto 30 Jun 2026

12,095events since 195014.7 per 100 sq mi (US 56.0)

61disaster declarations since 1953last 9 Aug 2026

1,216NFIP flood claims$8.1M paid

NCEI notes that Storm Data is compiled from a variety of sources including the National Weather Service, other federal, state and local agencies, the media and the public; that property and crop damage figures are estimates; and that some events are recorded by NWS forecast zone rather than by county. FEMA notes that NFIP claim records are redacted and aggregated to protect the privacy of policyholders. Storm records through 30 Jun 2026; declarations refreshed 29 Sep 2026; claims as of 8 Sep 2026.

Compared with the United States

Measure	Utah	US
Recorded events since 1950	12,095	1,977,440
Events per 100 square miles	14.7	56.0
Events per 10,000 residents	36.2	59.6
Deaths recorded by NCEI	257	26,435
Property damage (NCEI estimates)	$1.1B	$575B
NFIP claims per 1,000 residents	0.4	8.1
Average paid NFIP claim	$12K	$43K
Residential flood policies in force	3,169	3,139,862

Hazard mix

Winter4,165

Wind3,674

Flood1,399

Drought1,019

Hail638

Other386

Cold245

Fog170

Tornado146

Wildfire141

Lightning75

Heat37

Hazard	Events	Share of US	Deaths
■ Winter	4,165	1.4%	47
■ Wind	3,674	0.5%	20
■ Flood	1,399	0.8%	49
■ Drought	1,019	1.2%	—
■ Hail	638	0.2%	—
■ Other	386	0.8%	89
■ Cold	245	0.5%	—
■ Fog	170	0.9%	7
■ Tornado	146	0.2%	1
■ Wildfire	141	1.5%	11
■ Lightning	75	0.4%	22
■ Heat	37	0.1%	11

Events by decade

Hail: 11Tornado: 7Wind: 8

Hail: 19Tornado: 20Wind: 36

Hail: 14Tornado: 6Wind: 49

Hail: 75Tornado: 25Wind: 142

Hail: 121Tornado: 34Flood: 82Wind: 300Winter: 801Cold: 28Wildfire: 5Lightning: 16Other: 63

Hail: 142Tornado: 27Flood: 295Wind: 591Winter: 1496Heat: 1Cold: 65Drought: 492Wildfire: 43Lightning: 35Fog: 50Other: 115

Hail: 143Tornado: 14Flood: 625Wind: 1056Winter: 1214Heat: 4Cold: 65Drought: 305Wildfire: 60Lightning: 20Fog: 72Other: 101

Hail: 113Tornado: 13Flood: 397Wind: 1492Winter: 654Heat: 32Cold: 87Drought: 222Wildfire: 33Lightning: 4Fog: 48Other: 107

261950s751960s691970s2421980s1,4501990s3,3522000s3,6792010s3,2022020s

Recorded events in Utah by decade and hazard group, including events recorded by forecast zone. HailTornadoFloodWindWinterHeatColdDroughtWildfireLightningFogOther NCEI recorded only tornadoes, hail and thunderstorm wind before 1996.

Counties by events per 100 square miles

County	Events	Last 12 mo	Per 100 sq mi	Per 10k residents	Dominant	Tornadoes	Hail	Declarations	NFIP claims	NRI risk
Salt Lake County	523	24	70.5	4.4	Wind	14	121	12	406	Relatively High
Davis County	180	9	60.2	4.9	Wind	11	29	11	185	Relatively Moderate
Weber County	173	12	30.0	6.5	Wind	8	18	11	89	Relatively Moderate
Washington County	426	15	17.5	22.3	Flood	4	26	14	64	Relatively Moderate
Utah County	307	8	15.3	4.5	Wind	10	53	13	105	Relatively High
Tooele County	840	58	12.1	109.6	Wind	5	31	11	7	Relatively Low
Cache County	126	17	10.8	9.2	Wind	5	19	7	42	Relatively Low
Wayne County	192	1	7.8	750.6	Flood	8	12	4	2	Very Low
Grand County	236	8	6.4	244.2	Flood	4	26	4	8	Very Low
Kane County	254	13	6.4	317.8	Flood	0	16	8	8	Very Low
Daggett County	44	0	6.3	450.8	Hail	2	12	7	0	Very Low
Box Elder County	310	36	5.4	51.9	Wind	10	32	9	18	Relatively Low
Wasatch County	53	2	4.5	14.7	Wind	1	11	11	12	Very Low
Carbon County	62	3	4.2	30.4	Hail	2	24	5	9	Very Low
Morgan County	23	2	3.8	18.2	Wind	0	3	10	9	Very Low
Garfield County	189	5	3.7	368.5	Flood	4	17	7	2	Very Low
Iron County	112	8	3.4	18.5	Flood	5	21	7	23	Relatively Low
Sevier County	61	6	3.2	27.8	Wind	2	8	9	15	Very Low
Beaver County	79	3	3.1	109.0	Wind	7	6	8	3	Very Low
Duchesne County	99	2	3.1	50.0	Wind	5	28	8	6	Very Low
Sanpete County	47	6	3.0	16.1	Wind	10	5	10	12	Very Low
Rich County	30	3	2.9	115.5	Wind	2	2	5	1	Very Low
Summit County	54	3	2.9	12.5	Wind	0	13	10	46	Relatively Low
San Juan County	217	5	2.8	149.8	Flood	7	32	6	0	Very Low
Piute County	19	1	2.5	127.8	Flood	1	2	8	1	Very Low
Emery County	108	10	2.4	108.4	Flood	7	19	6	6	Very Low
Uintah County	109	3	2.4	30.1	Hail	8	37	8	14	Very Low
Juab County	61	6	1.8	50.2	Wind	2	8	9	6	Very Low
Millard County	78	5	1.1	59.3	Wind	2	6	11	48	Very Low

Events are county-recorded plus zone-recorded events whose zone is named for the county. NRI risk is FEMA's National Risk Index overall rating (December 2025).

Counties by flood claims per 100 policies in force

County	Claims, last 10 years	Policies in force	Claims per 100 policies	Claims since 1978	Paid
Weber County	30	227	13.2	89	$321K
Washington County	21	250	8.4	64	$1.2M
Grand County	8	101	7.9	8	$146K
Summit County	14	183	7.7	46	$153K
Salt Lake County	55	813	6.8	406	$1.7M
Davis County	20	329	6.1	185	$1.1M
Wasatch County	5	101	5.0	12	$40K
Utah County	25	514	4.9	105	$505K

Counties with at least 100 residential policies in force. Claims by year of loss in the ten years to 2026, divided by residential policies in force as of 3 Aug 2026; a rough ratio, since policies in force today differ from those in force when the losses occurred.

Federal disaster declarations by year

195319902026

Declarations touching Utah by year declared, 1953 to 2026; each disaster number counted once.

Incident type	Declarations
Fire	42
Flood	10
Severe Storm	3
Biological	2
Earthquake	1
Coastal Storm	1
Tornado	1
Drought	1

Most recent declarations (each disaster number once, with the number of counties designated):

Declared	Number	Type	Incident	Title	Counties
9 Aug 2026	FM-5665	Fire management assistance	Fire	Rocky Canyon Fire	2
2 Aug 2026	FM-5661	Fire management assistance	Fire	Widemouth 2 Fire	1
27 Jun 2026	FM-5641	Fire management assistance	Fire	Cherry Fire	2
23 Jun 2026	FM-5640	Fire management assistance	Fire	Cottonwood Fire	1
21 Jun 2026	FM-5639	Fire management assistance	Fire	Iron Fire	3
16 Jul 2025	FM-5600	Fire management assistance	Fire	Monroe Canyon Fire	2
12 Jul 2025	FM-5598	Fire management assistance	Fire	Deer Creek Fire	1
20 Jun 2025	FM-5591	Fire management assistance	Fire	Forsyth Fire	1
7 Jul 2024	FM-5504	Fire management assistance	Fire	Silver King Fire	1
23 Dec 2023	DR-4752	Major disaster	Flood	Flooding	5
14 Aug 2021	FM-5408	Fire management assistance	Fire	Parleys Canyon Fire	2
10 Jun 2021	FM-5391	Fire management assistance	Fire	Pack Creek Fire	1
5 Jun 2021	FM-5388	Fire management assistance	Fire	Mammoth Fire	1
12 Jan 2021	DR-4578	Major disaster	Severe Storm	Straight-Line Winds	4
7 Sep 2020	FM-5353	Fire management assistance	Fire	Ether Hollow Fire	1

Flood insurance claims by year

197820022026

NFIP claims in Utah by year of loss, 1978 to 2026.

1,216 claims, 695 paid, $8.1M in total; 20 repetitive-loss and 0 severe repetitive-loss properties. ZIP codes in Utah with flood claims (60).

Year by year

Each year's events, declarations and claims: 2026 · 2025 · 2024 · 2023 · 2022 · 2021 · 2020 · 2019 · 2018 · 2017 · 2016 · 2015 · 2014 · 2013 · 2012 · 2011 · 2010 · 2009 · 2008 · 2007 · 2006 · 2005 · 2004 · 2003 · 2002 · 2001 · 2000 · 1999 · 1998 · 1997 · and earlier years back to 1953

Questions and answers

Which Utah counties have the most recorded tornadoes?

Salt Lake (14), Davis (11) and Box Elder (10), by NCEI count since 1950. Larger counties record more events; the state table also ranks by events per 100 square miles.

Which Utah counties have the most flood insurance claims?

Salt Lake (406), Davis (185) and Utah (105) since 1978, in the OpenFEMA NFIP claims file.

How many federal disaster declarations has Utah had?

61 declarations since 1953 (major disaster, emergency and fire management assistance declarations combined), 5 of them in 2026 so far.

How does Utah compare with the national rate?

14.7 recorded events per 100 square miles against 56.0 nationally; 0.4 NFIP claims per 1,000 residents against 8.1.

Provenance

NOAA NCEI Storm Events through 30 Jun 2026; OpenFEMA DisasterDeclarationsSummaries v2 refreshed 29 Sep 2026; OpenFEMA NfipClaims v3 as of 8 Sep 2026; NfipResidentialPenetrationRates v1 (3 Aug 2026); FEMA National Risk Index December 2025; US Census Bureau 2021 population and area. Built 30 Sep 2026. Methodology.