The Rise in America's Billion-Dollar Extreme Weather Disasters

What We're Showing

The number of weather and climate disasters with losses exceeding $1 billion, along with their inflation-adjusted cost, based on data from the U.S. NOAA. Longer bars indicate more disasters, and taller bars indicate higher costs.

Key Takeaways

• The number and cost of billion-dollar disasters has risen with each passing decade.
• Since 1980, there have been 383 billion-dollar disasters with total inflation-adjusted costs of $2.7 trillion.
• Severe storms made up half of all disasters while tropical cyclones were the most costly, amounting to more than 50% of total costs.

Important Note

Only the 3 most common types of disasters in each decade are shown separately in the chart, with all other disaster types grouped under "Other". Droughts occurred in decades other than the 2000s, but were not among the 3 most common disaster types.

Read the full article on the Decarbonization Channel, sponsored by the National Public Utilities Council.