Severe Weather
Division of Emergency Management
Severe Weather
Severe weather causes significant damage across the United States. From 1980 to 2021, the U.S. experienced 323 major weather disasters that each caused over $1 billion in damage, totaling more than $2.1 trillion. In 2021 alone, twenty severe weather events each caused over $1 billion in damage.Nearly 98% of presidentially declared disasters are weather-related. Tornadoes, severe thunderstorms, and related weather events account for about 57% of all insured disaster losses in the United States since 1953.Weather hazards such as floods, tornadoes, lightning, winter storms, and extreme temperatures kill approximately 500 Americans each year. These risks can be reduced through weather education, warning systems, and preparedness.
The National Weather Service tracks weather-related deaths in the United States. Nationally, extreme heat causes the most weather-related deaths. In Utah, winter storms are the leading cause of weather fatalities.
Mitigation Case Study: 1999 Salt Lake City Tornado
On August 11, 1999 a F2 tornado with winds up to 157 mph left a path of destruction across 4.3 miles of downtown Salt Lake City. The tornado tracked just east of the state capitol breaking windows, downing 500 trees and doing extensive damage to several state buildings in the capitol complex. Eighty people were injured and one killed in the 1999 tornado with damages exceeding $170 million.
All of the facilities in the tornadoes path shared an equal risk of being damaged by the severe winds, but updated hazard building codes that incorporated advances in science and engineering protected newer buildings.
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