Coconino County, Arizona severe weather history spans 781 recorded events between 1957 and 2025. The dominant hazard is flash flood, accounting for 35.6% of all recorded events. It ranks #311 nationally and #5 in Arizona.
781
Recorded events
31
Direct deaths
74
Direct injuries
$35.1M
Property damage
The record
What the Coconino County, Arizona severe weather history record shows
Across the archive, Coconino County, Arizona severe weather history averages 11.5 recorded events a year. The busiest stretch on record is the 2010s, with 254 events logged in that decade alone. Roughly 42 events fall before 1990 and 739 from 1990 onward — a gap that reflects the expansion of NOAA reporting practice as much as the weather itself.
The deadliest hazard in the Coconino County, Arizona record is flash flood, responsible for 24 direct deaths. The costliest is flash flood, with $32.0M in reported property damage. In total, 11 distinct hazard types appear in this county archive, each listed with its own dated record below.
By hazard type
Every hazard type recorded in Coconino County
| Hazard | Events | Deaths | Damage | Max | Span |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | 278 | 24 | $32.0M | 5 | 1997–2025 |
| Hail | 177 | 0 | $242K | 3 | 1962–2025 |
| Heavy Rain | 105 | 0 | $10K | 2.25 | 2000–2025 |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 51 | 0 | $136K | 72 | 1965–2024 |
| Tornado | 48 | 0 | $2.0M | F2 | 1957–2024 |
| Flood | 47 | 0 | $54K | 0 | 1996–2025 |
| Funnel Cloud | 35 | 0 | $0 | 75 | 1996–2024 |
| Lightning | 19 | 7 | $600K | 0 | 1997–2025 |
| Wildfire | 18 | 0 | $50K | 0 | 1996–2002 |
| Dust Devil | 2 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 2020–2024 |
| Waterspout | 1 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 1996–1996 |
Decade by decade
Coconino County, Arizona severe weather history by decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
48 mapped tornado paths intersect this county: 47 touched down inside it and 1 crossed in from a neighbouring county. This comes from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
| Date | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Path length | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010-10-06 | EF3 | 0 | 0 | 30.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 2010-10-06 | EF3 | 0 | 0 | 4.0 mi | Touched down here |
| 2011-09-14 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 0.5 mi | Touched down here |
| 2010-10-06 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 14.8 mi | Touched down here |
| 2010-10-06 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 18.6 mi | Touched down here |
| 2010-10-06 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 4.9 mi | Touched down here |
| 2010-10-06 | EF2 | 0 | 7 | 26.0 mi | Touched down here |
| 1992-10-24 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 5.5 mi | Touched down here |
| 2022-10-03 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 0.7 mi | Touched down here |
| 2021-07-10 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 1.3 mi | Touched down here |
Significant events
Deadliest events on record in Coconino County
| Date | Type | Location | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 12, 1997 | Flash Flood | PAGE | 11 | 1 | $0 |
| Aug 11, 2001 | Flash Flood | SUPAI | 3 | 0 | $0 |
| Jul 23, 2013 | Lightning | JACOB LAKE | 2 | 1 | $0 |
| Sep 11, 1997 | Flash Flood | GRAND CANYON ARPT | 2 | 1 | $0 |
| Aug 7, 2001 | Flash Flood | THE GAP | 2 | 0 | $0 |
| Jun 27, 2015 | Lightning | WASHINGTON PARK | 1 | 7 | $0 |
| Aug 4, 2011 | Lightning | PHANTOM RANCH | 1 | 5 | $0 |
| Jul 15, 2021 | Flash Flood | NORTH RIM | 1 | 4 | $0 |
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
Eleven hikers and tourists were drowned by a flash flood in a narrow slot canyon 5 miles southeast of Page. A severe thunderstorm 3 to 5 miles upstream produced very heavy rain causing a 10-30 foot wall of water to crash down Antelope Canyon. In the area of the flood fatalities the depth and width of Antelope Canyon varies from about 20 feet across and 30 feet deep to points where it is 200 feet deep but only two (2) feet across. It is a popular site for hiking and photography where access is via rope ladders controlled by Navajo Nation representatives. The eleven who died and a tour guide were warned not to enter the canyon because of the flood potential from an approaching thunderstorm. The tour guide alone survived after being carried several miles downstream by the flood.
Two people died while hiking in a slot canyon when a flash flood washed them down stream. The two were long overdue from a hiking trip when searchers began looking for them. The last entry in a personal journal, dated August 7, indicated that they were going to hike up a slot canyon 16 miles southwest of The Gap. The canyon is marked by steep cliff walls that offer no escape to higher ground in the event of a flash flood. Their bodies were found over 16 days later.
A Flash Flood on Phantom Creek killed two people and injured a third person. Runoff from the heavy rain associated with a thunderstorm several miles north of the flash flood site caught the three people as they were crossing Phantom Creek. All three attempted to save themselves by crouching behind a large boulder, but chest-deep water carried them downstream. The bodies of the two who were killed were found several weeks later, miles downstream in the Colorado River. The survivor was carried one quarter mile down Phantom Creek then another quarter mile down Bright Angel Creek before he was able to escape and hike out of the canyon.
Context
Risk, population and federal disasters
Relatively Moderate
FEMA NRI risk rating
144,508
Population (ACS)
$448K
Median home value
24
Federal declarations
| Declared | Incident | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 12, 2022 | Fire | PIPELINE FIRE | FM |
| Apr 19, 2022 | Fire | TUNNEL 2 FIRE | FM |
| Sep 13, 2021 | Flood | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR |
| Apr 4, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR |
| Mar 13, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 | EM |
| Jul 22, 2019 | Fire | MUSEUM FIRE | FM |
Within the county
Most affected places
- Sunset Crater 202
- Flagstaff 182
- Havasupai 169
- Sunnyside 102
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many severe weather events have been recorded in Coconino County, Arizona?
781 events are on record between 1957 and 2025, causing 31 direct deaths and $35.1M in property damage.
What is the most common severe weather hazard in Coconino County?
Flash Flood, with 278 recorded events — 35.6% of everything in the archive for this county.
How many tornadoes have crossed Coconino County?
48 mapped tornado paths intersect the county boundary; 47 of them touched down inside it. This is derived from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
How many federal disaster declarations cover Coconino County?
24 federal disaster declarations from FEMA include Coconino County, each tied to a specific incident period.
How risky is Coconino County compared with the rest of the country?
FEMA's National Risk Index rates Coconino County as relatively moderate risk, placing it in the 94 percentile of its state for expected annual loss.
Where does the Coconino County, Arizona 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
- Cochise County 612
- Gila County 535
- Apache County 234
- Graham County 180
- Greenlee County 55
- La Paz County 252
Cite this page
“Coconino County, Arizona.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/arizona/coconino-county/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.