Arizona

Storm History: Maricopa County, Arizona

1,208 episodes, 4,273 events since 1955

Every storm the National Weather Service has filed in Maricopa County, Arizona: floods, hail, damaging wind, tornadoes, winter storms, heat and the rest, with the most serious on record. Events filed by forecast zone count for every county the zone covers.

The record

Events
4,273
Deaths
2,079
Injuries
206
Damage
$3.4 billion
Episodes
1,208

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

Open the live radar over Maricopa County

Every year

From 1996 the record holds 48 kinds of event with each office’s narrative; before that, tornadoes, hail and thunderstorm wind only, and before 1955 tornadoes alone.

By kind of event

Counted under the kind that heads each episode.

Kind of eventEventsDeathsInjuriesDamage
Flash Flood1,1671511$2.9 billion
Excessive Heat1,0101,5922
Thunderstorm Wind728367$273 million
Heat2874551
Tornado282266$46 million
Dust Storm279511$79 million
Hail261117$36 million
Flood104421$41 million
Funnel Cloud3400
Lightning3219$2.0 million
Heavy Rain3200$25,000
Dense Fog2800
Strong Wind911$16,000
Heavy Snow700$50,000
Wildfire600$14 million
Dust Devil400$17,000
High Wind300$2,000

The deadliest

The costliest

Damage within this county, in the dollars of its year.

The largest hail

The largest stone in each episode, which may have fallen in a neighboring county of the same episode.

The strongest tornadoes

Every tornado in Maricopa County, with its track

Every episode, newest first

Earlier years, state by state:

More

Tornadoes in Maricopa CountyEvery warning in Maricopa County since 1986Every county in Arizona

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24.