Weber County, Utah: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Weber County, Utah has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 87.0 out of 100, higher than about 87% of US counties, with earthquakes, lightning and wildfires scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $104 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 9 federal disaster declarations that included Weber County since 1977, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4578-UT (Straight-Line Winds, declared 12 January 2021). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 8 tornadoes touching Weber County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 262,158 Buildings worth $48 billion Area 667 sq mi Risk rank in Utah 5 of 29 FIPS 49057
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Earthquake | Relatively Moderate | 97.7 | $66 million | about once every 67 years | — |
| Lightning | Relatively High | 94.6 | $2.8 million | about 33 a year | 144,545 strikes |
| Wildfire | Relatively Moderate | 94.1 | $4.5 million | about once every 315 years | — |
| Avalanche | Relatively High | 93.4 | $4.0 million | about once every 2.1 years | 14 |
| Winter weather | Relatively High | 90.5 | $667,624 | about 33 a year | 601 |
| Heat wave | Relatively Moderate | 81.4 | $2.6 million | about 1.2 a year | 17 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Moderate | 79.3 | $2.0 million | about 1.1 a year | 44 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Low | 67.6 | $19 million | about once every 1.6 years | 17 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 46.9 | $1,797 | about once every 2.2 years | — |
| Cold wave | Relatively Low | 46.5 | $1.3 million | about once every 5.9 years | 3.2 |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 44.5 | $156,063 | about 48 a year | 1,841 |
| Ice storm | Relatively Low | 33.3 | $61,029 | about once every 67 years | 0 |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | 32.0 | $915,304 | about once every 21 years | 6 |
| Hail | Very Low | 14.5 | $76,497 | about once every 3.5 years | 12 |
| Coastal flooding | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Hurricane | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Tsunami | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Volcanic activity | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
Score: FEMA's percentile among US counties that face the hazard (higher = more risk). Expected loss: FEMA's modelled average yearly loss to buildings, people (as a statistical value) and crops. How often: FEMA's annualised frequency of the hazard in the county; for some hazards it counts event-days, so it is a rough guide, not a forecast. "Not Applicable" means FEMA does not model that hazard here.
Federal disaster declarations 9
Most common: Flood 4, Fire 2, Severe Storm 1, Coastal Storm 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 1 | Drought |
| 1980s | 3 | Flood ×3 |
| 2000s | 2 | Coastal Storm, Fire |
| 2010s | 2 | Fire, Flood |
| 2020s | 1 | Severe Storm |
The last 9
Widest declarations that included Weber County
- Hurricane Katrina Evacuation (2005, EM-3223-UT): 29 Utah counties designated.
- Drought (1977, EM-3024-UT): 27 Utah counties designated.
- Severe Storms, Landslides & Flooding (1983, DR-680-UT): 22 Utah counties designated.
Named storms in its declarations: Hurricane Katrina (2005).
Not counted above: 2 COVID-19 ("Biological") declarations — in 2020 every US county was included. Utah also had 2 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 8
| Tornadoes touching the county | 8 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F2 ×1 |
| Peak month | May (2) |
| Deadliest | 20 Aug 1998, F1, 0.1 mi path, 0 killed, 6 injured |
| Longest path | 22 Sep 2016, EF1, 2.9 mi path, 0 killed, 5 injured |
| Most recent | 28 Jul 2021, unrated, 0.2 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 14 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Deaths and injuries are for each tornado's whole path, which can run beyond this county. F-scale ratings before February 2007, Enhanced Fujita (EF) after.
How Weber County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weber County (this page) | — | Relatively Moderate | 87.0 | Earthquake |
| Morgan County | 32 km | Very Low | 3.5 | Landslide |
| Davis County | 33 km | Relatively Moderate | 87.8 | Earthquake |
| Cache County | 50 km | Relatively Low | 66.5 | Earthquake |
| Rich County | 64 km | Very Low | 0.8 | Landslide |
| Salt Lake County | 70 km | Relatively High | 98.6 | Earthquake |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Utah, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Very Low 10.6 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very High 86.5 |
| Community risk factor | 0.66 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $104 million |
FEMA scales expected losses up where social vulnerability is high (people who may find it harder to prepare, evacuate or recover) and down where community resilience is high. A factor above 1 raises the risk score. For social vulnerability a high rating is worse; for resilience a high rating is better.
Prepare for Weber County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Utah · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Earthquake: Earthquakes today · Earthquake safety guide
- Lightning: Weather alerts for Utah
- Wildfire: US wildfires now · Wildfire smoke: what protects you
- Your property's flood zone: FEMA Flood Map Service Center ↗ — this page cannot tell you that.
- Official preparedness guidance: Ready.gov ↗ and your county emergency management office.
What this page shows, and what it misses
FEMA's National Risk Index rates a whole county against every other US county; it is a planning-level estimate for nationwide comparison, not a flood-zone map and not a substitute for a local risk assessment or the risk to one home. Declarations are presidential disaster, emergency and fire management declarations that named this county; state declarations and SBA or USDA designations are not included. Tornadoes are counted when the county is one of up to four listed on the track; 670 tornadoes that crossed a state line carry no county list in NOAA's file and are left out.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), National Risk Index Dataset: National Risk Index Counties - v1.20.0 (December 2025). Retrieved from https://services.arcgis.com/XG15cJAlne2vxtgt/ArcGIS/rest/services/National_Risk_Index_Counties/FeatureServer/0/query on November 2, 2026, 1:20 PM EST. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Risk Index dataset API or downloadable datasets but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), OpenFEMA Dataset: Disaster Declarations Summaries - v2, retrieved from https://www.fema.gov/api/open/v2/DisasterDeclarationsSummaries on November 2, 2026, 1:21 PM EST. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
Tornado records: NOAA/NWS Storm Prediction Center, Severe Weather Database, tornadoes 1950–2025 (https://www.spc.noaa.gov/wcm/data/1950-2025_actual_tornadoes.csv, downloaded 2 November 2026). Public domain; not endorsed by NOAA. Compiled by Global Incident Tracker.
Questions about Weber County
What natural disasters is Weber County, Utah most at risk from?
Weber County, Utah has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 87.0 out of 100, higher than about 87% of US counties, with earthquakes, lightning and wildfires scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $104 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Weber County had?
OpenFEMA lists 9 federal disaster declarations that included Weber County since 1977, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4578-UT (Straight-Line Winds, declared 12 January 2021). Another 2 Utah declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Weber County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 8 tornadoes touching Weber County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 20 Aug 1998, F1, 0.1 mi path, 0 killed, 6 injured (deaths and injuries are for the whole path).
Is the National Risk Index a flood zone map?
No. The National Risk Index is a planning-level estimate for a whole county, built for nationwide comparison. It does not tell you the flood zone or the risk of a single property: for that, look up the address on FEMA's Flood Map Service Center (msc.fema.gov) and ask your local floodplain manager.