Palm Beach County, Florida

What hazards hit Palm Beach County most?

The most frequent records are severe thunderstorm wind events: 308 since 1956. The rank column places the county among Florida's counties by days with a record per 1,000 square miles of land over each hazard's complete period.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database (county and forecast-zone records attributed to the county; a zone record shows its own totals on each county it covers). Days: dates with at least one record of the hazard in the county. Ranks: days with a record per 1,000 square miles of land (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer), since 1950 for tornadoes, 1955 for hail and thunderstorm wind, 1996 for the rest.

How many tornadoes has Palm Beach County had?

NOAA records 198 tornadoes in Palm Beach County from 1952 to 2025, the strongest rated EF3, with 1 death and 111 injuries recorded in the county. That is 15th of 67 Florida counties and 80th of 3,080 U.S. counties by days with tornadoes per 1,000 square miles since 1950. A tornado that crossed a county line is counted in each county it touched, with the length of its path inside the county.

Counted as whole tornadoes rather than county records, the Storm Prediction Center's database holds 199 tornadoes whose track touched Palm Beach County since 1950 (NOAA's county records number 198: they file a crossing tornado once per county segment, and the two databases differ on some tracks); along their whole tracks they killed 1 person.

Map of the strongest tornado tracks in Florida.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, tornado records by county (path length in the county, maximum width); ratings as published: F scale before February 1, 2007, EF scale after. Whole-track figures: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database (1950-2025). SPC severe weather database.

When was the last damaging storm in Palm Beach County?

The most recent record with damage, injuries or deaths is the June 2, 2026 thunderstorm wind ($1,000 in damage in 2025 dollars).

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database; every record of 2025-2026 is listed, earlier ones when they caused deaths, injuries or $250,000 of damage (2025 dollars), and every tornado.

The deadliest and costliest records

A damage figure marked "step" is a record from before 1993: NOAA then filed damage by category, and the figure is the category as entered, in the dollars of that year, not an estimate of the loss.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: deaths and injuries direct and indirect; damage is property plus crops as estimated by the National Weather Service, converted to 2025 dollars.

Is it getting more frequent?

Records per decade for Palm Beach County's most frequent hazards. Counts rose everywhere after 1996, when NOAA began recording every event type, so compare decades within a hazard's complete period only (the shaded cells come before it).

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records per calendar decade; zone records from the CZ_TYPE field (Z).

What time of year?

Records by month in Palm Beach County. The two busiest months are in violet.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records by the month they began.

Federal disaster declarations for Palm Beach County

FEMA's register lists 41 declarations that include Palm Beach County: 25 major disasters, 15 emergencies and one fire management assistance declaration. Most were for hurricane (25) and freezing (5).

The 40 most recent of 41 are listed; the CSV has every one.

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2), declarations through October 2, 2026; one declaration is counted once however many areas it names. OpenFEMA dataset page.

How many floods has Palm Beach County had?

NOAA's Storm Events Database holds 137 flood or flash flood records for Palm Beach County from 1998 to 2026, on 98 days, with 2 deaths. By flood insurance claims since 1978 (OpenFEMA, as of September 8, 2026), Palm Beach County ranks 50th of 2,942 U.S. counties. The 100 counties with the most claims

The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $72.3 million on 10,758 claims filed in Palm Beach County; the most in one year was 1,926 in 2004. Claims count insured losses only: uninsured flood damage is not in this file.

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims, as of September 8, 2026; claims by year of loss, payments in the dollars of the year paid. OpenFEMA dataset page.

FEMA's modeled risk for Palm Beach County

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Palm Beach County Relatively High overall, with an expected annual loss of $519 million. These are FEMA's model estimates of future loss from 18 hazards, not a count of what happened; they can differ from the record above.

Source: FEMA National Risk Index, county table, December 2025 release. FEMA's National Risk Index map.

Counties that share a border with Palm Beach County

1. Palm Beach County 1,499
2. Broward County 1,480
3. Martin County 270
4. Hendry County 255
5. Glades County 240
6. Okeechobee County 158

Source: U.S. Census Bureau county adjacency file; NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records since 1950. The Census Bureau's adjacency file.

Next

• Tornadoes in FloridaEvery Florida tornado since 1950 and the counties with the most per square mile
• Severe thunderstorm wind in FloridaThe state's severe thunderstorm wind events, by county, year and month
• The Florida recordEvery hazard in the state, its deadliest events and its federal declarations
• FEMA's risk rating for each hazard in Palm Beach CountyThe hazard risk calculator: 18 hazards beside the county's record
• Download Palm Beach County's FEMA declarations (CSV)41 rows: every declaration that named the county, for your own analysis