Adam Smith

• Researcher at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Research examining natural disaster costs on social and economic systems is substantial. However, there are few empirical studies that seek to quantify the uncertainty and establish confidence intervals surrounding natural disaster cost estimates (ex-post). To better frame the data limitations associated with natural disaster loss estimates, a rang...

This paper focuses on the US Billion-dollar Weather/Climate Disaster report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Climatic Data Center. The current methodology for the production of this loss dataset is described, highlighting its strengths and limitations including sources of uncertainty and bias. The Insurance Services...

NOAA's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) initiated the Integrated Surface Database (ISD) project in 1998 to address the problem of scattered climatological data. The goal of the project was to merge several surface hourly datasets into a common format and data model, providing a single collection of global hourly data for the user that was conti...

Several large-scale climate patterns influenced climate conditions and weather patterns across the globe during 2010. The transition from a warm El Niño phase at the beginning of the year to a cool La Niña phase by July contributed to many notable events, ranging from record wetness across much of Australia to historically low Eastern Pacific basin...

For the first time in serveral years, the El Nino-Southern Oscillation did not dominate regional climate conditions around the globe. A weak La Ni a dissipated to ENSOneutral conditions by spring, and while El Nino appeared to be emerging during summer, this phase never fully developed as sea surface temperatures in the eastern conditions. Neverthe...

The U.S. has sustained 403 separate weather and climate disasters since 1980 in which overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion. Values in parentheses represent the 2024 Consumer Price Index cost adjusted value (if different than original value). The total cost of these 403 events exceeds $2.915 trillion.

NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) has updated its 2024 Billion-dollar disaster analysis. In 2024, there were 27 individual weather and climate disasters with at least $1 billion in damages, trailing only the record-setting 28 events analyzed in 2023. These disasters caused at least 568 direct or indirect fatalities, which...

Graph showing the percent frequency of a given month having at least one billion-dollar disaster (light pink bars), 2 or more events (medium pink bars), 3 or more (red), 4 or more (darker red), or 5 or more (darkest red). Billion-dollar weather and climate disasters occur in all months, but the spring and summer (March–Aug) are the time when multip...

This table shows the breakdown, by hazard type, of the 403 billion-dollar weather and climate disasters assessed since 1980. Severe storms are the most frequent type of billion-dollar disaster while tropical cyclones are the most costly.

This map depicts the total estimated cost borne by each state from billion-dollar weather and climate events from 1980-2024. Florida leads the U.S. in total cumulative costs ($450 billion) from billion-dollar disasters since 1980 largely due to the impact of hurricanes. Texas is the second-leading state in total costs since 1980 ($436 billion), but...

In 2024, the United States experienced 27 separate weather or climate disasters that each resulted in at least $1 billion in damages. The billion-dollar disasters of 2024 came from multiple categories: 2 winter storm/cold wave events (across the Northwest and central/southern U.S. in mid-January); 1 wildfire event (the South Fork Fire in New Mexico...

Monthly climatology of U.S. billion-dollar weather and climate disasters from 1980 to 2024, showing which months have the greater frequency of disasters (height of bar) and which types of events (colors) are most likely to occur in a given month.

The U.S. has sustained 400 separate weather and climate disasters since 1980 in which overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion. Values in parentheses represent the 2024 Consumer Price Index cost adjusted value (if different than original value). The total cost of these 400 events exceeds $2.785 trillion.

Greenhouse gas concentrations, the global temperature across land and the ocean, global sea level and ocean heat content all reached record highs in 2023, according to the 34th annual State of the Climate report. The international annual review of the world’s climate, led by scientists from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCE...

This chapter provides summaries of the 2023 temperature and precipitation conditions across seven broad regions: North America, Central America and the Caribbean, South America, Africa, Europe and the Middle East, Asia, and Oceania. In most cases, summaries of notable weather events are also included. The base period used for these analyses is 1991...

The U.S. has sustained 391 weather and climate disasters since 1980 in which overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion. Values in parentheses represent the 2024 Consumer Price Index cost adjusted value (if different than original value). The total cost of these 391 events exceeds $2.755 trillion.

The U.S. has sustained 378 weather and climate disasters since 1980 in which overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion. Values in parentheses represent the 2024 Consumer Price Index cost adjusted value (if different than original value). The total cost of these 378 events exceeds $2.690 trillion.

This graph shows the percent frequency of a given month having at least one billion-dollar disaster (light pink bars), 2 or more events (medium pink bars), 3 or more (red), 4 or more (darker red), or 5 or more (darkest red). Billion-dollar weather and climate disasters occur in all months, but the spring and summer (March–Aug) are the time when mul...

The history of billion-dollar disasters in the United States each year from 1980 to 2023, showing event type (colors), frequency (left-hand vertical axis), and cost (right-hand vertical axis.) The number and cost of weather and climate disasters is rising due to a combination of population growth and development along with the influence of human-ca...

In 2023, the United States experienced 28 separate weather or climate disasters that each resulted in at least $1 billion in damages. NOAA map by NCEI.

The distribution of damage from U.S. billion-dollar disaster events from 1980 to 2023 is dominated by tropical cyclone losses. Tropical cyclones have caused the most damage ($1,379.3 billion) and have the highest average event cost ($22.2 billion per event). Severe storms ($455.2 billion), drought ($352.9 billion), and inland flooding ($196.6 billi...

The U.S. has sustained 376 weather and climate disasters since 1980 in which overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion. Values in parentheses represent the 2023 Consumer Price Index cost adjusted value (if different than original value). The total cost of these 376 events exceeds $2.660 trillion. Event narratives and cost summaries are n...

This map depicts the total estimated cost borne by each state from billion-dollar weather and climate events from 1980-2023. Texas leads the U.S. in total cumulative costs (~$402 billion) from billion-dollar disasters since 1980. Florida is the second-leading state in total costs since 1980 (~$389 billion), largely the result of destructive hurrica...

The 44-year climatology of U.S. billion-dollar disasters offers a view of risk from extreme events, which are often seasonal in nature. For example, during the spring months (March-May) severe storms (green blocks), including tornadoes, hail, and high winds, often occur in many Central and Southeast states, but they taper off in the second half of...

In 2023, the U.S. experienced 28 weather and climate disasters each incurring losses that exceeded $1 billion. 2023 surpassed 2020 (with 22 events) for the highest number of billion-dollar disasters in a calendar year. These events included: 17 severe storms, four flooding events, two tropical cyclones, two tornado outbreaks, one winter storm, one...

This report examines significant and specific gaps in long-running disaster impact data sets which skew our knowledge about global patterns and trends. The report identifies substantial variability in the same impact measurements – including the key metric of mortality – across global databases. With extreme heatwaves, wildfires, storms and floodin...

The U.S. has sustained 372 weather and climate disasters since 1980 in which overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion. Values in parentheses represent the 2023 Consumer Price Index cost adjusted value (if different than original value). The total cost of these 372 events exceeds $2.630 trillion.

This chapter provides summaries of the 2022 temperature and precipitation conditions across seven broad regions: North America, Central America and the Caribbean, South America, Africa, Europe and the Middle East, Asia, and Oceania. In most cases, summaries of notable weather events are also included. Local scientists provided the annual summary fo...

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports that climate change is increasing the frequency of extreme conditions that lead to disasters such as droughts, hurricanes, flooding, and wildfires. These climate-related physical risks are likely to disrupt local economic activity.

The U.S. has sustained 360 weather and climate disasters since 1980 in which overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion. Values in parentheses represent the 2023 Consumer Price Index cost adjusted value (if different than original value). The total cost of these 360 events exceeds $2.575 trillion.

The first four months of 2023 places the frequency of confirmed billion-dollar events (7) in second place behind the first four months of 2017 (8) and 2020 (8). The first four months of 2023 places the total, direct costs of the confirmed billion-dollar events ($19.0 billion) in second place behind the first four months of 2021 ($36.1 billion mostl...

In 2022, the United States experienced 18 separate weather or climate disasters that each resulted in at least $1 billion in damages. These events included: 1 drought event, 1 flooding event, 11 severe storm events, 3 tropical cyclone events, 1 wildfire event, and 1 winter storm event.

The U.S. has sustained 341 separate weather and climate disasters since 1980 where overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion (including CPI adjustment to 2022). The total cost of these 341 events exceeds $2.475 trillion.

The history of billion-dollar disasters in the United States each year from 1980 to 2022, showing event type (colors), frequency (left-hand vertical axis), and cost (right-hand vertical axis.) The number and cost of weather and climate disasters is rising due to a combination of population growth and development along with the influence of human-ca...

Last year, the U.S. experienced 18 separate billion-dollar weather and climate disasters, leading to the deaths of at least 474 people. The following 18 events, each exceeding $1 billion, put 2022 in third place (tied with 2011 and 2017) for the highest number of disasters recorded in a calendar year, behind 2021 — with 20 events — and 2020, with a...

From January through the end of September, the U.S. experienced 15 weather and climate disasters each incurring losses that exceeded $1 billion. These disasters included: 10 severe storms, two tropical cyclones, one flooding event, one combined drought and heat wave and one regional wildfire event. Six new events have been added since the mid-year...

In 2022 (as of October 11), there have been 15 weather and climate disaster events with losses exceeding $1 billion each to affect the United States. These events included 1 drought event, 1 flooding event, 10 severe storm events, 2 tropical cyclone events, and 1 wildfire event. Overall, these events resulted in the deaths of 342 people and had sig...

The history of billion-dollar disasters in the United States each year from 1980 to 2022 (through 9/30/2022), showing event type (colors), frequency (left-hand vertical axis), and cost (right-hand vertical axis.) The number and cost of weather and climate disasters is rising due to a combination of population growth and development along with the i...

Regional Climates is one chapter from the State of the Climate in 2021 annual report. Compiled by NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, State of the Climate in 2021 is based on contributions from scientists from around the world. It provides a detailed update on global climate indicators, notable weather events, and other data coll...

Editors note: For easy download the posted pdf of the State of the Climate in 2021 is a low-resolution file. A high-resolution copy of the report is available by clicking here . Please be patient as it may take a few minutes for the high-resolution file to download.

There were nine individual billion-dollar weather and climate events across the U.S. during the first six months of 2022, including: ● Three severe weather events. (several across the south and central states) ● Two tornado outbreaks. ( across the south and southeastern states) ● Two hail storms. (focused in Minnesota and Wisconsin) ● A derecho ev...

Since 1980, the U.S. has sustained 323 weather and climate disasters where the overall damage costs reached or exceeded $1 billion (including adjustments based on the Consumer Price Index, as of 2021). The cumulative cost for these 323 events exceeds $2.195 trillion. See: (www.ncdc.noaa.gov/billions) In 2021, there were 20 separate weather and cl...

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) released the final update to its 2021 Billion-dollar disaster report (www.ncdc.noaa.gov/billions), confirming what much of the nation experienced throughout 2021: another year of frequent and costly extremes. The year came in second to 2020 in terms of number of disasters (20 versus 22) and...

In 2021, the U.S. experienced 20 separate billion-dollar weather and climate disasters that killed at least 688 people — the most disaster-related fatalities for the contiguous U.S. since 2011 and more than double last year’s number of 262. The following 20 events, each exceeding $1 billion, put 2021 in second place for the highest number of disast...

The U.S. has sustained 308 weather and climate disasters since 1980 in which overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion. Values in parentheses represent the 2021 Consumer Price Index cost adjusted value. The total cost of these 308 events exceeds $2.085 trillion. Through the end of September, 18 weather and climate disaster events have b...

With disasters increasing in intensity, severity and impacts across the globe, improving risk information across all types of hazards is critical to enhance our capacity to anticipate, prevent and respond to disaster risks from the local to the global scales. One barrier to sharing and using risk information effectively has been the lack of standar...

Between 1970 and 2019, there were more than 11 000 disasters attributed to weather, climate and water-related hazards, which accounted for just over 2 million deaths and US$ 3.64 trillion in losses, according to new data presented in this WMO Atlas of Mortality and Economic Losses from Weather, Climate and Water Extremes. Economic losses are mounti...

This chapter provides summaries of the 2020 temperature and precipitation conditions across seven broad regions: North America, Central America and the Caribbean, South America, Africa, Europe and the Middle East, Asia, and Oceania. In most cases, summaries of notable weather events are also included. Local scientists provided the annual summary fo...

Since 1980, the U.S. has sustained at least 297 separate events where damage costs reached or exceeded $1 billion (including CPI-adjustments, as of 2021). The total cost for these 297 events exceeds $1.975 trillion. During the first six months of 2020, the U.S. experienced 8 separate weather/climate disaster events with losses exceeding $1 billio...

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction provides quantitative indicators for nations to measure progress in the reduction of disaster losses. The collection and analysis of disaster loss data under the Sendai Framework improves our understanding of the effectiveness of national disaster risk reduction strategies and interventions. The Send...

During 2020, there were 22 separate billion-dollar weather and climate disaster events across the United States, breaking the previous annual record of 16 events that occurred in 2017 and 2011. The 2020 costs were $95.0 billion, with Hurricane Laura, the August derecho and the historic Western wildfires as the most costly events. The billion-dollar...

The U.S. has sustained 285 weather and climate disasters since 1980 in which overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion. Values in parentheses represent the 2020 Consumer Price Index cost adjusted value (if different than original value). The total cost of these 285 events exceeds $1.875 trillion. During 2020, there were 22 separate billi...

1) The first 9 months of 2020 ties the annual record of 16 events that occurred in 2011 and 2017. These events included 1 drought event, 11 severe storm events, 3 tropical cyclone events, and 1 wildfire event. 2) Since 1980, the U.S. has sustained 279 separate billion-dollar weather and climate disasters (including CPI adjustment to 2020). The tot...

Evaluating Climate Change Impacts discusses assessing and quantifying the climate change and its impacts from a multi-faceted perspective of ecosystem, social and infrastructure resilience, given through a lens of statistics and data science. It provides a multi-disciplinary view on the implications of climate variability and shows how the new data...

In 2020 (as of July 8), there have been 10 weather/climate disaster events with losses exceeding $1 billion each to affect the United States. These events included 10 severe storm events. Overall, these events resulted in the deaths of 80 people and had significant economic effects on the areas impacted. The 1980–2019 annual average is 6.6 events (...

In 2002, Florida enacted the first statewide building code based on wind engineering principles. After a tragic tornado in 2013, which killed 24, including seven school children, Moore, Oklahoma, followed suit. We use results from evaluating the cost-effectiveness of both Florida and Moore’s code to determine if other states would benefit from a bu...

In 2002, Florida enacted the first statewide building code based on wind engineering principles. After a tragic tornado in 2013, which killed 24, including seven school children, Moore, Oklahoma, followed suit. We use results from evaluating the cost-effectiveness of both Florida and Moore’s code to determine if other states would benefit from a bu...

In the first 3 months of 2020 (as of April 8), there were 2 weather and climate disaster events with losses exceeding $1 billion each across the United States. The U.S. has sustained 265 weather and climate disasters since 1980 where overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion (including CPI adjustment to 2020). The total, direct cost of t...

This NOAA data set contains U.S. disaster cost assessments (1980-present) of the total, direct losses ($) inflicted by: tropical cyclones, inland floods, drought & heat waves, severe local storms (i.e., tornado, hail, straight-line wind damage), wildfires, crop freeze events and winter storms. These assessments require input from a variety of publi...

During the 2010s, the nation saw a trend of an increasing number of billion-dollar inland flooding events. Even after adjusting for inflation, the U.S. experienced more than twice the number of billion-dollar weather and climate disasters during the 2010s (119) as compared with the 2000s (59). The billion-dollar disaster damage costs over the last...

Below is a historical table of U.S. Billion-dollar disaster events, summaries, report links and statistics for the 1980–2019 period of record. In 2019, there were 14 weather and climate disaster events with losses exceeding $1 billion each across the United States. These events included 3 flooding events, 8 severe storm events, 2 tropical cyclone e...

The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and the International Science Council (ISC) jointly established a technical working group (TWG) to identify the full scope of hazards relevant to the Sendai Framework and the scientific definitions of these hazards. The purpose of the review is to provide a technical scientific report fo...

In 2019 (as of October 8), there have been 10 weather and climate disaster events with losses exceeding $1 billion each across the United States. These events included 3 flooding events, 5 severe storm events, and 2 tropical cyclone events. 2019 marks the 5th consecutive year (2015-2019) in which 10 or more billion-dollar disaster have impacted the...

2018 was the fourth-hottest year ever for the globe—behind 2016, 2015 and 2017, respectively—according to the 29th annual State of the Climate report. The planet also experienced another record-high year of greenhouse gas concentrations and sea-level rise. This international annual review of the world’s climate, led by scientists from NOAA’s Nation...

Found here are the weather and climate events that have had the greatest economic impact from 1980 to 2019. The U.S. has sustained 246 weather and climate disasters since 1980 where overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion (including CPI adjustment to 2019). The total cost of these 246 events exceeds $1.6 trillion. The 1980–2018 annual...

NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) tracks U.S. weather and climate events that have great economic and societal impacts (www.ncdc.noaa.gov/billions). Since 1980, the U.S. has sustained 241 weather and climate disasters where the overall damage costs reached or exceeded $1 billion (including adjustments based on the Consume...

During 2018, the U.S. experienced a very active year of weather and climate disasters. In total, the U.S. was impacted by 14 separate billion-dollar disaster events: two tropical cyclones, eight severe storms, two winter storms, drought, and wildfires. The most recent years of 2018, 2017 and 2016 have all been historic in the number of billion-doll...

In 2017, the dominant greenhouse gases released into Earth's atmosphere-carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide-reached new record highs. The annual global average carbon dioxide concentration at Earth's surface for 2017 was 405.0 ± 0.1 ppm, 2.2 ppm greater than for 2016 and the highest in the modern atmospheric measurement record and in ice cor...

The U.S. has sustained 230 weather and climate disasters since 1980 in which overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion. Values in parentheses represent the 2018 Consumer Price Index (CPI) cost adjusted value (if different than original value). The total cost of these 230 events exceeds $1.5 trillion.

NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) tracks U.S. weather and climate events that have great economic and societal impacts (www.ncdc.noaa.gov/billions). Since 1980, the U.S. has sustained 219 weather and climate disasters where the overall damage costs reached or exceeded $1 billion (including adjustments based on the Consume...

During 2017, the U.S. experienced a historic year of weather and climate disasters. In total, the U.S. was impacted by 16 separate billion-dollar disaster events including: three tropical cyclones, eight severe storms, two inland floods, a crop freeze, drought and wildfire. 2017 ties 2011 for the highest number of billion-dollar disasters for a sin...

During 2017, the U.S. experienced a historic year of weather and climate disasters. In total, the U.S. was impacted by 16 separate billion-dollar disaster events including: three tropical cyclones, eight severe storms, two inland floods, a crop freeze, drought and wildfire. Perhaps more notably than the high frequency of these events is the cumulat...

Implications: Extreme weather and climate events affect human health by causing death, injury, and illness, as well as having large socio-economic impacts. Climate change has caused changes in extreme event frequency, intensity and geographic distribution, and will continue to be a driver for change in the future. Some of these events include heat...

Found here are the weather and climate events that have had the greatest economic impact from January 1980 to June 2017. The U.S. has sustained 212 weather and climate disasters since 1980 where overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion (including CPI adjustment to 2017). The total cost of these 212 events exceeds $1.2 trillion. The dist...

This is the twenty-seventh issuance of the annual assessment now known as State of the Climate. Surface temperature and carbon dioxide concentration, two of the more publicly recognized indicators of global-scale climate change, set new highs during 2016, as did several surface and near-surface indicators and essential climate variables. Notably, t...

Ch 7. Regional Climates: f. Europe and the Middle East

The year 2016 was an unusual year, as there were 15 weather and climate events with losses exceeding $1 billion each across the United States. These events included drought, wildfire, 4 inland flood events, 8 severe storm events, and a tropical cyclone event. Cumulatively, these 15 events led to 138 fatalities and caused $46.0 billion in total, dir...

Since 1980, the U.S. has sustained over 200 weather and climate disasters since 1980 in which overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion. Values in parentheses represent the 2016 Consumer Price Index (CPI) cost adjusted value (if different than original value). The total cost of these events exceeds $1.1 trillion.

This is a historical table of U.S. Billion-dollar disaster event summaries and statistics for the 1980–2016 period of record.

Understanding and documenting impacts from natural hazards is the foundation for decision-making and policy-setting in disaster risk reduction. The impacts range from human effects such as displacement, homelessness and death, to environmental (wetland loss, desertification) and economic losses (damage to property and crops). Documenting impacts in...

The U.S. has sustained 178 weather and climate disasters since 1980 in which overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion. Values in parentheses represent the 2015 Consumer Price Index (CPI) cost adjusted value (if different than original value). The total cost of these 178 events exceeds $1 trillion.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) generates tremendous value for the nation. The Agency provides critical environmental data, forecasts, cutting edge knowledge, management and stewardship that the United States needs to plan for and react to in a constantly changing global environment. The Agency, however, needs to do more...

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) generates tremendous value for the nation. The Agency provides critical environmental data, forecasts, cutting edge knowledge, management and stewardship that the United States needs to plan for and react to in a constantly changing global environment. The Agency, however, needs to do more...

Several large-scale climate patterns influenced climate conditions and weather patterns across the globe during 2010. The transition from a warm El Nino phase at the beginning of the year to a cool La Nina phase by July contributed to many notable events, ranging from record wetness across much of Australia to historically low Eastern Pacific basin...