Utah severe thunderstorm wind
Every recorded severe thunderstorm wind event since 1955 · 29 counties with a record
NOAA's Storm Events Database records 2,483 severe thunderstorm wind events in Utah from 1955 through June 30, 2026, about 75 a year since 2000. The deadliest was the August 12, 1997 thunderstorm wind in Utah County: 1 death, 2 injuries and $18,000 in damage in 2025 dollars across 2 records. Utah ranks 38th of 52 states and territories by count and 43rd of 51 per square mile.
Severe thunderstorm wind in Utah, 1955 to 2026
Thunderstorm wind records per year (NOAA Storm Events); 2026 to June 30, 2026. NOAA recorded every event type only from 1996.
- recorded, no damage figure
- under $1 million
- $1 million or more
- $10 million or more
- $100 million or more, or 10 deaths
- $1 billion or more, or 100 deaths
- a year's colour: its recorded damage or deaths
- a year with a death
- 1996: all 48 event types recorded from 1996
- Records
- 2,4831955 to June 30, 2026
- A year since 2000
- 75average
- Deaths
- 843 injuries
- Damage, 2025 dollars
- $128Mas filed
- Busiest year
- 2023267 records
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records through June 30, 2026; deaths and damage as filed, damage in 2025 dollars. Search the record at NCEI.
Are severe thunderstorm wind events common in Utah?
Utah averages about 75 severe thunderstorm wind events a year since 2000, 38th of 52 states and territories by count. The busiest year on record was 2023 (267). Per 10,000 square miles of land, Utah records 301 severe thunderstorm wind events since 1955, 43rd of 51 states and territories by that measure.
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records since 1955, per 10,000 square miles of land area (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer; places under 1,000 square miles not ranked). Damage colours: Storm Events damage, 2025 dollars.
Which counties in Utah have the most severe thunderstorm wind events?
Per square mile, Davis County leads Utah: 87 days with a severe thunderstorm wind event since 1955, 267.9 per 1,000 square miles of land. By raw count, Tooele County has the most thunderstorm wind records (771 since 1955); large counties collect more records simply by covering more ground, so the ranking counts days with a record per unit of area (a storm filed for several forecast zones adds several records but one day).
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, days with a record in the county since 1955 per 1,000 square miles of land (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer); in brackets, the count of records.
When is the severe thunderstorm season in Utah?
44% of its severe thunderstorm wind events since 1955 fell in July and August. The busiest month is July (632 records).
The values, month by month
Jan 4 · Feb 10 · Mar 31 · Apr 89 · May 427 · Jun 436 · Jul 632 · Aug 472 · Sep 295 · Oct 52 · Nov 14 · Dec 21 (records).
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records by the month they began, since 1955.
What were the deadliest severe thunderstorm wind events in Utah?
| Date | Record | Character | Killed | Injured | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997-08-12 | Thunderstorm WindProvo Municipal Airport, Utah County One storm episode: 2 records in 2 places; the totals are the episode's. Severe thunderstorms developed on this date across northern Utah. A semi-trailer was blown over on I-70 just south of Green River. 3/4" diameter hail was reported in Kanosh and on Johnson's Pass near Dugway. A military forecaster reported a microburst wind gust to 66 mph (57kts) on the Dugway Mesonet. He also reported ... | 1 | 2 | $18K | |
| 2001-03-27 | Thunderstorm WindHeber City, Wasatch County Two men were canoeing on Jordanelle Reservoir when thunderstorm outflow winds estimated at 45mph (39kts) capsized the canoe. The men were thrown into the 34 degree water about 25 feet from shore, but they were pushed out further by the wind as they hung onto the canoe. They both became hypothermic, and the 27-year-old ... | 1 | 1 | $2K | |
| 2015-07-17 | Thunderstorm WindWanship, Summit County A 21-year-old male was riding a paddle board on the reservoir at Rockport State Park when a strong wind gust caused by a thunderstorm moved through the area. The victim was separated from his group of friends and drowned in the reservoir. His body was recovered the next day. The strongest wind gusts recorded from ... | 45 kt wind | 1 | 0 | – |
| 2002-06-21 | Thunderstorm WindPleasant Grove, Utah County A strong microburst wind resulted in one death in Utah County. The fatality occurred at a baseball park in Pleasant Grove, when a gust of wind blew a 250-pound portable pitching mound over, striking the 13-year-old boy in the head. | 1 | 0 | – | |
| 1997-08-20 | Thunderstorm WindKamas, Summit County Strong thunderstorm winds toppled a dead pine tree at Camp Frontier about 20 miles north of Mirror Lake. The tree struck a 12 year old girl in the head, killing her instantly. Later, a microburst wind gust to 68 mph (59 kts) occurred at the National Weather Service Office in Salt Lake City. | 1 | 0 | – | |
| 2024-07-25 | Thunderstorm WindGrantsville, Tooele County One storm episode: 4 records in 3 places, 2024-07-25 to 2024-07-27; the totals are the episode's. Sufficient moisture in combination with a shortwave impulse brushing by the area resulted in numerous strong thunderstorm wind gusts in addition to isolated instances of flash flooding. | 42 kt wind | 1 | 0 | $941 |
| 2023-07-19 | Thunderstorm WindClearfield, Davis County One storm episode: 2 records in 2 places; the totals are the episode's. A shift in the atmospheric pattern from mid to late July brought an array of impacts to much of Utah, including severe thunderstorm wind gusts, large hail, and flash flooding. | 56 kt wind | 1 | 0 | $969 |
| 2001-07-04 | Thunderstorm WindSpanish Fork, Utah County A 46-year-old man was killed after a strong Microburst blew his fireworks stand on top of him. | 1 | 0 | – |
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: deaths direct and indirect, as filed by the National Weather Service, summed over each storm (one episode, or one named storm filed by several offices). Storm names from the titles of FEMA declarations that name the storm's counties.
The costliest severe thunderstorm wind events in Utah
| Date | Record | Character | Killed | Injured | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994-05-31 | Thunderstorm WindProvo, Utah County Every thunderstorm wind record filed in the state that day (6, in 4 places; before 1996 NOAA filed no storm episodes); the totals are the day's. | 0 | 15 | $104M | |
| 2006-08-01 | Thunderstorm WindCountywide, Utah County | 80 kt wind | 0 | 0 | $5.9M |
| 2006-08-01 | Thunderstorm WindProvo Municipal Airport, Utah County | 92 kt wind | 0 | 0 | $4.4M |
| 2006-08-01 | Thunderstorm WindCountywide, Salt Lake County | 75 kt wind | 0 | 0 | $2.9M |
| 2001-06-12 | Thunderstorm WindCountywide, Salt Lake County One storm episode: 3 records in 3 places; the totals are the episode's. | 64 kt wind | 0 | 1 | $1.8M |
| 1998-08-26 | Thunderstorm WindKaysville, Davis County | 0 | 0 | $905K | |
| 2017-09-14 | Thunderstorm WindGlen Canyon, Kane County | 61 kt wind | 0 | 3 | $602K |
| 1996-05-29 | Thunderstorm WindClearfield, Davis County | 0 | 0 | $564K |
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: property and crop damage as estimated by the National Weather Service, in 2025 dollars.
Are severe thunderstorm wind events becoming more frequent in Utah?
Utah's count per decade against the whole country's, and its share. NOAA recorded every event type only from 1996, so earlier decades are not comparable; the share of the national total is the fairer comparison across decades.
| Decade | Utah | United States | Utah's share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1955-59 | 8 | 3,482 | 0.23% |
| 1960s | 36 | 10,124 | 0.36% |
| 1970s | 49 | 18,714 | 0.26% |
| 1980s | 142 | 39,604 | 0.36% |
| 1990s | 200 | 85,554 | 0.23% |
| 2000s | 315 | 129,990 | 0.24% |
| 2010s | 558 | 161,286 | 0.35% |
| 2020-26 | 1,175 | 126,815 | 0.93% |
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database.
The most recent severe thunderstorm wind events in Utah
| Date | Record | Character | Killed | Injured | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-06-27 | Thunderstorm WindSmithfield, Cache County | 54 kt wind | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2026-06-25 | Thunderstorm WindFillmore Airport, Millard County | 50 kt wind | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2026-06-25 | Thunderstorm WindSt John, Tooele County | 53 kt wind | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2026-06-24 | Thunderstorm WindLakeside, Box Elder County | 56 kt wind | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2026-06-24 | Thunderstorm WindPromontory Pt Airport, Box Elder County | 53 kt wind | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2026-06-24 | Thunderstorm WindGrouse Creek, Box Elder County | 56 kt wind | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2026-06-24 | Thunderstorm WindCharleston, Wasatch County | 55 kt wind | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2026-06-24 | Thunderstorm WindWarner, Tooele County | 52 kt wind | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2026-06-24 | Thunderstorm WindPehrson Station, Tooele County | 54 kt wind | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2026-06-24 | Thunderstorm WindWendover Airport, Tooele County | 57 kt wind | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2026-06-24 | Thunderstorm WindPumice, Millard County | 54 kt wind | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2026-06-20 | Thunderstorm WindLaketown, Rich County | 51 kt wind | 0 | 0 | – |
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records through June 30, 2026; the newest months are revised by NCEI as reports arrive. Search the record at NCEI.
Federal disaster declarations for severe thunderstorm wind events in Utah
FEMA files hail and wind disasters under the incident type Severe Storm: 3 declarations in Utah, 3 of them major disasters; the latest on January 12, 2021.
| Declared | Number | Title | Areas named |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-01-12 | DR-4578 | Straight-Line Winds | 4 |
| 2012-02-01 | DR-4053 | Severe Storm | 1 |
| 2005-02-01 | DR-1576 | Severe Storms and Flooding | 2 |
Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2), through October 2, 2026. OpenFEMA dataset page.
Next
- Davis County: the county's whole recordThe Utah county with the most severe thunderstorm wind events per square mile
- Severe thunderstorm wind across the United StatesEvery state ranked, by year and month
- Every natural hazard in UtahTornadoes, floods, storms, heat and the federal declarations
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- Floods in Utah1,399 records
- High wind and dust storms in Utah1,200 records