Somerset County, Pennsylvania severe weather history spans 416 recorded events between 1951 and 2026. The dominant hazard is thunderstorm wind, accounting for 67.8% of all recorded events. It ranks #1,193 nationally and #39 in Pennsylvania.
416
Recorded events
4
Direct deaths
25
Direct injuries
$6.4M
Property damage
The record
What the Somerset County, Pennsylvania severe weather history record shows
Across the archive, Somerset County, Pennsylvania severe weather history averages 5.5 recorded events a year. The busiest stretch on record is the 2010s, with 130 events logged in that decade alone. Roughly 28 events fall before 1990 and 388 from 1990 onward — a gap that reflects the expansion of NOAA reporting practice as much as the weather itself.
The deadliest hazard in the Somerset County, Pennsylvania record is thunderstorm wind, responsible for 2 direct deaths. The costliest is tornado, with $4.4M in reported property damage. In total, 7 distinct hazard types appear in this county archive, each listed with its own dated record below.
By hazard type
Every hazard type recorded in Somerset County
| Hazard | Events | Deaths | Damage | Max | Span |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 282 | 2 | $921K | 83 | 1968–2026 |
| Flash Flood | 61 | 0 | $1.1M | 0 | 1996–2025 |
| Hail | 36 | 0 | $0 | 2 | 1971–2025 |
| Flood | 17 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 2009–2025 |
| Tornado | 15 | 1 | $4.4M | F3 | 1951–2021 |
| Lightning | 3 | 1 | $0 | 0 | 2006–2012 |
| Funnel Cloud | 2 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 2007–2013 |
Decade by decade
Somerset County, Pennsylvania severe weather history by decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
17 mapped tornado paths intersect this county: 17 touched down inside it and 0 crossed in from a neighbouring county. This comes from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
| Date | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Path length | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998-06-02 | EF4 | 0 | 5 | 36.5 mi | Touched down here |
| 1998-05-31 | EF3 | 1 | 15 | 13.0 mi | Touched down here |
| 1998-06-02 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 15.0 mi | Touched down here |
| 1951-05-11 | EF2 | 0 | 1 | 8.0 mi | Touched down here |
| 2021-07-29 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 mi | Touched down here |
| 2018-05-13 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 0.3 mi | Touched down here |
| 2018-05-13 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 0.5 mi | Touched down here |
| 1998-06-30 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 mi | Touched down here |
| 1998-06-02 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 mi | Touched down here |
| 1984-07-05 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 10.0 mi | Touched down here |
Significant events
Deadliest events on record in Somerset County
| Date | Type | Location | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 1, 1998 | Tornado | SALISBURY | 1 | 15 | $4.0M |
| Nov 11, 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Somerset | 1 | 4 | $0 |
| Jul 24, 2012 | Lightning | GARRETT | 1 | 1 | $0 |
| Aug 25, 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | ROBERTS | 1 | 0 | $5K |
| May 13, 2025 | Flash Flood | MEYERSDALE | 0 | 1 | $10K |
| Aug 14, 2012 | Lightning | SHANKSVILLE | 0 | 1 | $0 |
| May 31, 2006 | Lightning | BERLIN | 0 | 1 | $0 |
| May 13, 1956 | Tornado | 0 | 1 | $250K |
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
Thunderstorm winds estimated near 60 mph knocked down a tree which fell onto a residential home on Stepping Stone Road on the south-side of Somerset, causing significant damage. A 10-year old female in the house was killed by the falling tree.
A Somerset County woman and her unborn baby were killed when she was struck by lightning around 1100 am EDT. The woman was hit on Rockdale Road in Summit Township near Garrett while taking cover from a storm under a pine tree. According to PSP, the woman, her husband and two of their children were in the woods picking blueberries when it began to storm. The woman took shelter under one tree and her husband and two children took shelter under another tree nearby. The woman's husband was also hit and slightly injured. The children were not affected.
A severe thunderstorm, producing straight-line winds in excess of 95 mph, caused extensive tree damage in Addison and elk Lick Townships. In Addison, a tree fell onto a residence, with multiple trees knocked down across roadways in Addison, knocking out power for a majority of the town. Two people were injured in Addison when an ATV collided with a downed tree. Extensive tree damage continued into Salisbury, where a silo also collapsed into a barn, causing the barn to collapse.
Context
Risk, population and federal disasters
Relatively Low
FEMA NRI risk rating
72,799
Population (ACS)
$151K
Median home value
21
Federal declarations
| Declared | Incident | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 30, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR |
| Mar 13, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 | EM |
| Mar 23, 2016 | Snowstorm | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | DR |
| Jan 10, 2013 | Hurricane | HURRICANE SANDY | DR |
| Oct 29, 2012 | Hurricane | HURRICANE SANDY | EM |
| Sep 8, 2011 | Flood | REMNANTS OF TROPICAL STORM LEE | EM |
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many severe weather events have been recorded in Somerset County, Pennsylvania?
416 events are on record between 1951 and 2026, causing 4 direct deaths and $6.4M in property damage.
What is the most common severe weather hazard in Somerset County?
Thunderstorm Wind, with 282 recorded events — 67.8% of everything in the archive for this county.
How many tornadoes have crossed Somerset County?
17 mapped tornado paths intersect the county boundary; 17 of them touched down inside it. This is derived from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
How many federal disaster declarations cover Somerset County?
21 federal disaster declarations from FEMA include Somerset County, each tied to a specific incident period.
How risky is Somerset County compared with the rest of the country?
FEMA's National Risk Index rates Somerset County as relatively low risk, placing it in the 64 percentile of its state for expected annual loss.
Where does the Somerset County, Pennsylvania severe weather history data come from?
Every figure is drawn from United States federal public-domain records: NOAA/NCEI Storm Events for the event archive, NOAA SPC SVRGIS for mapped tornado paths, FEMA for disaster declarations and risk ratings, and the U.S. Census for population context. Dates are shown in UTC and recent entries may still be revised by NOAA.
Nearby
Neighbouring counties
- Snyder County 205
- Sullivan County 178
- Schuylkill County 364
- Susquehanna County 514
- Tioga County 338
- Potter County 247
Cite this page
“Somerset County, Pennsylvania.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/pennsylvania/somerset-county/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.