U.S. sets record for billion-dollar disasters in 2023
According to the NOAA, as of September, 23 billion-dollar-plus climate disasters have struck the United States in 2023.
As of September, the United States has already set an unfortunate record with 23 billion-dollar-plus weather and climate disasters happening in 2023, according to the NOAA, with over a quarter of the year still to come.
While the natural disasters we’re most likely to hear about in the news include hurricanes – like Hurricane Idalia, which made landfall in Florida on Aug. 29 – or devastating wildfires – like the Hawaii Fire Storm, which caused $5.5 billion in damage on the island of Maui in early August – a great deal of climate-related damage is caused by wind, flooding and hail from severe storms.
The billion-dollar severe weather disasters that affected the United States throughout the summer of 2023 have included:
- June 21 – June 26: A multi-day severe weather outbreak dropped damaging hail across Colorado and produced more than 60 tornadoes across parts of Wyoming, Colorado, Minnesota, Indiana, Kentucky and Arkansas. This outbreak caused about $3.5 billion of damage.
- June 28 – July 2: Severe storms swept across several states in the central U.S., including Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. Around $1.2 billion in damage was caused by high winds, hail and scattered tornadoes.
- July 9 – July 15: Severe storms and subsequent flooding caused $2.1 billion in damage in portions of the Northeast, with some areas reportedly receiving as much as eight inches of rain over one 24-hour period. Vermont experienced widespread flooding that damaged thousands of homes and businesses, with a record 5.28 inches of rain reported in the city of Montpelier. Areas of New York, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois were also impacted by flooding, hail or damaging winds from the storm system.
- Aug. 5 – Aug. 8: Severe weather in the Northeast and Eastern U.S. led to more than 1,000 reports of high wind, severe hail or tornadoes. August 7 was a particularly impressive weather day, with wind damage reports related to the system stretching from Georgia to New York. In total, this bout of severe weather caused about $1.3 billion in damage.
- Aug. 11: Storms dropped golf ball to baseball-sized hail across south-central Minnesota, causing $1.1 billion in damage to homes, businesses and vehicles.
To put this number of billion-dollar natural disasters into perspective, from 1980 to 2022, the national average was 8.1 billion-dollar events (CPI-adjusted) per year. When looking at the previous five years (2018 to 2022), that average jumps to 18 per year; but even that number falls short of the 23 events that have occurred so far in 2023.
The NOAA reports other potential billion-dollar climate events (for which damage costs aren’t yet finalized) not already included in this total are Tropical Storm Hilary, which affected parts of California in August; and drought conditions present across several Midwestern and Southern states from spring to fall 2023 that have impacted the agriculture sector.