PlainHazard

Utah tornadoes

Every recorded tornado since 1950 · 26 counties with a record

Utah has recorded 142 tornadoes from 1950 through 2025, about 2.5 a year since 2000, with 1 rated F3/EF3 or stronger (NOAA Storm Prediction Center). The deadliest was the August 11, 1999 Salt Lake tornado (1 death in Utah). Utah ranks 39th of 52 states and territories by count and 48th of 51 per square mile.

Tornadoes in Utah, 1950 to 2025

Tornadoes per year (SPC; a tornado that crossed a state line counts in each state it touched).

  • 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: tornado reports rose with NEXRAD Doppler radar, mid-1990s (SPC)
Tornadoes
1421950 to 2025
A year since 2000
2.5average
Deaths
198 injuries
F3/EF3 or stronger
11% of tornadoes
Busiest year
19987 tornadoes

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025 (state segments). SPC severe weather database.

Are tornadoes common in Utah?

Utah averages about 2.5 tornadoes a year since 2000, 39th of 52 states and territories by count. The busiest year on record was 1998 (7). Per 10,000 square miles of land, Utah records 17 tornadoes since 1950, 48th of 51 states and territories by that measure.

  1. 1. Florida 701
  2. 2. Oklahoma 658
  3. 3. Mississippi 614
  4. 4. Louisiana 579
  5. 5. Illinois 567
  6. 6. Kansas 564
  7. 7. Iowa 555
  8. 8. Alabama 537
  9. 9. Indiana 492
  10. 10. Maryland 438
  11. 48. Utah 17

Source: NOAA SPC, tornadoes 1950-2025, 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 tornadoes?

Per square mile, Davis County leads Utah: 11 days with a tornado record since 1950, 33.9 per 1,000 square miles of land. By raw count, Salt Lake County has the most tornado records (14 since 1950); 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).

  1. Davis County 33.9 (11)
  2. Salt Lake County 18.6 (14)
  3. Weber County 13.1 (8)
  4. Sanpete County 5.0 (10)
  5. Utah County 5.0 (10)
  6. Cache County 4.3 (5)
  7. Daggett County 2.9 (2)
  8. Beaver County 2.7 (7)
  9. Wayne County 2.4 (8)
  10. Rich County 1.9 (2)
  11. Washington County 1.6 (4)
  12. Uintah County 1.6 (8)

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, days with a record in the county since 1950 per 1,000 square miles of land (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer); in brackets, the count of records.

When is tornado season in Utah?

Utah's tornadoes by month. The busiest month is August (29 tornadoes).

The values, month by month

Jan 1 · Feb 1 · Mar 3 · Apr 7 · May 28 · Jun 23 · Jul 21 · Aug 29 · Sep 24 · Oct 1 · Nov 2 · Dec 2 (records).

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, state segments by the month they began, 1950-2025.

What were the deadliest tornadoes in Utah?

Utah: the tornadoes with the most deaths in the state, 1950-2025
DateCountiesRatingPath in stateKilledInjured
1999-08-11Salt Lake · Salt LakeF24.3 mi180

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database (state segments: deaths and path inside Utah), 1950-2025; counties are the first four the SPC lists for the segment. SPC severe weather database.

Where have the strongest tornadoes tracked in Utah?

  • F2/EF2
  • F3/EF3
  • F4/EF4
  • F5/EF5
  • no end point filed
13 tornadoes rated 2 or higher drawn from start to end of the whole track (a track that crossed into Utah from another state is drawn in full); 120 rated 0 or 1 are left off the map.

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, start and end points of each track; county lines: Census Bureau cartographic boundaries (2017), via us-atlas. SPC severe weather database. Census cartographic boundary files.

The strongest tornadoes in Utah

Utah: the highest-rated tornadoes, 1950-2025
DateCountiesRatingPath in stateWidthKilled
1993-08-11Bluebell to Neola · DuchesneF317 mi880 yd0
1999-08-11Salt Lake · Salt LakeF24.3 mi150 yd1
1961-05-04Green River · Emery, GrandF29.4 mi67 yd0
1955-06-16Fayette · SanpeteF22.7 mi333 yd0
2002-09-08Manti · SanpeteF22.7 mi270 yd0
2022-06-19DuchesneEF22.08 mi880 yd0
1963-06-03Bountiful · DavisF22 mi10 yd0
1968-08-14Marriott-Slaterville · WeberF21.5 mi50 yd0
2025-09-13San JuanEF21.1 mi50 yd0
1965-02-09Salt LakeF20.1 mi13 yd0

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database; F scale before February 1, 2007, EF scale after.

The longest tornado paths in Utah

Utah: the longest paths inside the state, 1950-2025
DateTornado and countiesRatingPath in stateWidthKilled
1993-08-11Bluebell to Neola · DuchesneF317 mi880 yd0
1991-07-25TooeleF110 mi100 yd0
1961-05-04Green River · Emery, GrandF29.4 mi67 yd0
1953-06-05Davis, MorganF08 mi147 yd0
2001-09-04BeaverF05 mi20 yd0
2005-08-02DavisF05 mi–0
1999-08-11Salt Lake · Salt LakeF24.3 mi150 yd1
1968-08-14Box ElderF04.1 mi10 yd0
1999-09-03UintahF14 mi50 yd0
1986-05-30Iron, WashingtonF13.5 mi200 yd0

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, state segments: path length and width inside the state. SPC severe weather database.

Tornadoes in every Utah county

All 27 counties: tornadoes whose track touched each, and the strongest
Utah: tornadoes whose track touched each county since 1950, most first
CountyTornadoesStrongest
Salt Lake County13F/EF2
Davis County12F/EF2
Box Elder County10F/EF0
Utah County10F/EF1
Sanpete County9F/EF2
Uintah County8F/EF1
Wayne County8F/EF1
Weber County8F/EF2
Beaver County7F/EF0
Emery County7F/EF2
San Juan County7F/EF2
Duchesne County5F/EF3
Grand County5F/EF2
Iron County5F/EF1
Tooele County5F/EF1
Cache County4F/EF1
Garfield County4F/EF1
Washington County4F/EF1
Carbon County2F/EF0
Daggett County2F/EF0
Millard County2F/EF0
Rich County2F/EF1
Sevier County2F/EF1
Juab County1–
Morgan County1F/EF0
Piute County1F/EF0
Wasatch County1F/EF0

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database: whole tornadoes whose track touched the county (any state segment listing it). SPC severe weather database.

The costliest tornadoes in Utah

Utah: the most damaging tornadoes since 1993, 2025 dollars
DateRecordCharacterKilledInjuredDamage
1999-08-11 TornadoSalt Lake City, Salt Lake County Around lunch time, a tornado touched down in the southwest portions of Salt Lake City. The tornado intensified to an F2 on the Fujita scale, and moved northeast through the metropolitan area of Salt Lake City. It caused widespread damage at the Delta Center, then ripped across an outdoor retailers convention tent, ... F2 4.3 mi x 150 yd 1 80 $302M
2002-09-08 TornadoManti, Sanpete County An F2 tornado began one mile south-southwest of Manti and moved northeast through Southeast Manti. The first mile of the tornado path was across open land, however the tornado produced some remarkable damage at the start. A 10X12 foot pioneer building was lifted, rotated 90 degrees, and moved 8 feet before being ... F2 2.7 mi x 270 yd 0 0 $3.4M
2016-09-22 TornadoRoy, Weber County A tornado touched down in Riverdale in Weber County. The tornado moved rapidly to the northeast, but was not consistently on the ground. It skipped on several occasions in Riverdale, producing primarily EF0 damage to trees and a several homes. The tornado then produced a more continuous swath of damage through ... EF1 2.85 mi x 50 yd 0 5 $2.5M
1999-09-03 TornadoNaples, Uintah County The tornado was witnessed by many people in the Naples area, including law enforcement personnel. Several mobile homes were damaged or destroyed. Several garages and sheds were destroyed, with heavy debris strewn for hundreds of yards. Power poles and trees were downed or pulled out of the ground, with some trees ... F1 4 mi x 50 yd 0 1 $1.2M
1996-05-29 TornadoNorth Ogden, Weber County Another severe thunderstorm in Weber County spawned a stronger F1 tornado. Experts estimated winds were between 73-112 mph (63-97 kts) based on the damage they inspected. The tornado touched down on the west side of Washington Boulevard at 2100 North. It then travelled east along the north side of Washington Blvd. for ... F1 1.3 mi x 33 yd 0 1 $1.1M
1993-05-03 TornadoErda, Tooele County F1 0.1 mi x 15 yd 0 0 $1.0M
2021-09-02 TornadoBountiful Sky Hvn Ar, Davis County A tornado first touched down in North Salt Lake at Redwood Road and 900 W around 628 PM MDT. The tornado moved to the northeast through a mix of industrial and residential areas. The tornado produced EF0 damage (winds 65 to 85 MPH) to numerous trees and several homes in the Cloverdale neighborhood. The tornado ... EF1 2.05 mi x 350 yd 0 0 $817K
2016-09-22 TornadoPanguitch, Garfield County A tornado touched down in Panguitch, producing an intermittent damage path which included EF1 damage to a business in town and EF0 damage to several homes and numerous trees. The most significant damage occurred to a business located at 609 North Main Street, where the tornado took off the roof of a building. The ... EF1 0.75 mi x 25 yd 0 0 $369K

Before 1993 NOAA filed damage by category, not amount, so the list above starts in 1993. The highest category filed here before then (entered as $250K, in the dollars of the day) holds: August 14, 1968 (tornado, Weber County).

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: property and crop damage as estimated by the National Weather Service, in 2025 dollars.

Are tornadoes becoming more frequent in Utah?

Utah's count per decade against the whole country's, and its share. The Storm Prediction Center notes that tornado reports rose especially around the installation of the NEXRAD Doppler radar network in the mid-1990s, so a rising count is partly better detection; the share of the national total is the fairer comparison across decades.

Tornadoes: Utah and the United States by decade
DecadeUtahUnited StatesUtah's share
1950s74,8370.14%
1960s206,8630.29%
1970s68,6330.07%
1980s248,2500.29%
1990s3512,2050.29%
2000s2412,8920.19%
2010s1412,2320.11%
2020-25128,2340.15%

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, state segments.

The most recent tornadoes in Utah

The 12 most recent records, to June 30, 2026
DateRecordCharacterKilledInjuredDamage
2026-04-11 TornadoRichmond, Cache County EF1 0.44 mi x 100 yd 0 0 –
2025-09-13 TornadoMontezuma Creek, San Juan County EFU 0.25 mi x 25 yd 0 0 –
2025-09-13 TornadoMontezuma Creek, San Juan County EF2 1.1 mi x 50 yd 0 0 –
2025-07-12 TornadoLa Sal, San Juan County EF2 0.1 mi x 100 yd 0 0 –
2025-06-05 TornadoGrand Co Airport, San Juan County EFU 0.1 mi x 10 yd 0 0 –
2025-04-18 TornadoCedar City Airport, Iron County EF0 0.1 mi x 5 yd 0 0 –
2024-07-20 TornadoVerdure, San Juan County EFU 0.1 mi x 10 yd 0 0 –
2024-06-21 TornadoLa Sal Jct, San Juan County EFU 0.5 mi x 20 yd 0 0 –
2022-06-19 TornadoFruitland, Duchesne County EF2 2.08 mi x 880 yd 0 0 –
2021-09-02 TornadoBountiful Sky Hvn Ar, Davis County EF1 2.05 mi x 350 yd 0 0 $817K
2021-07-28 TornadoMarriott, Weber County EFU 0.21 mi x 10 yd 0 0 –
2021-07-14 TornadoHuntington, Emery County EFU 0.09 mi x 10 yd 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 tornadoes in Utah

FEMA has declared 1 disaster in Utah for tornadoes, counting its incident type and declarations that name tornado in the title (FEMA files most storm disasters under Severe Storm); one was a major disaster, the latest on August 16, 1999.

The 12 most recent
DeclaredNumberTitleAreas named
1999-08-16DR-1285Tornado, Severe Thunderstorms, and Hail1

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2), through October 2, 2026. OpenFEMA dataset page.

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