2023 Was A Record Year For Weather Disasters, Costing Nearly $93B

ACROSS AMERICA — Scorching temperatures in areas plagued by drought contributed to a record 28 billion-dollar weather and climate disasters that collectively cost about $92.9 billion, government climatologists said Tuesday.

The unprecedented number of disasters smashed the old record of 22 set in 2020 and occurred during a remarkably warm year wrapped up by a record-warm December, according to the report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The number of these costly disasters, which are adjusted to account for inflation, has soared, averaging only three per year in the 1980s and just under six per year in the 1990s.

The U.S. billion-dollar disasters last year included a drought, four floods, 19 severe storms, 2 hurricanes, a wildfire and a winter storm. They combined to kill 492 people and cause nearly $93 billion in damage, according to NOAA.

NOAA Chief Scientist Sarah Kapnick said the most recent disasters point to a worrying pattern of weather extremes.

“For millions of Americans impacted by a seemingly endless onslaught of weather and climate disasters, 2023 has hit a new record for many extremes,” Kapnick said in a news release. “Record warm U.S. temperatures in December, a record-setting number of U.S. billion-dollar disasters in 2023 and potentially the warmest year on record for the planet are just the latest examples of the extremes we now face that will continue to worsen due to climate change.”

Also on Tuesday, the European climate agency Copernicus said 2023 was 1.48 degrees Celcius (2.66 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times. Record heat made life miserable and sometimes deadly in Europe, North America, China and other places last year. Scientists also say a warming climate is also to blame for more more extreme weather events, like the lengthy drought that devastated the Horn of Africa, the torrential downpours that wiped out dams and killed thousands in Libya, and the Canada wildfires that fouled the air from North America to Europe.

NOAA said the most costly U.S. disasters were the Southern/Midwestern drought and heat wave, with costs of $14.5 billion, and severe weather in the South and East that cost $6 billion in early March.

Since 1980, the United States has sustained 376 weather and climate disasters costing or exceeding $1 billion. Their cumulative cost exceeds $2.66 trillion, NOAA said.

Over the last seven years, at least 5,000 people have been killed in 137 separate billion-dollar disasters that collectively cost more than $1 trillion in damage.
This is also a record 13th consecutive year in which the United States has experienced 10 or more billion-dollar disasters and the fourth consecutive year (2020–2023) in which 18 or more billion-dollar disasters impacted the country.

Multiple records were shattered in 2023, according to NOAA.

On June 20 in Texas, Del Rio and Rio Grande both hit 113 degrees Fahrenheit, and San Angelo reported a high of 114 degrees, setting an all-time heat record at each location. Temperatures averaged 102.8 degrees for the month of July in Phoenix; Death Valley, California set records with daytime and nighttime temperatures of 128 degrees and 120 degrees, respectively on July 20; and Chicago broke the record for heat indices, with a feel-like temperature of 120 degrees on July 6.

2023 was also an above-average tornado year, with 1,197 reported and 97 possible tornadoes still under investigation. Significantly, Iowa had its first January tornadoes since 1967; California had its strongest tornado since 1983; and more than 110 tornadoes were reported across the Midwest on March 28, placing nearly 28 million people under watches and warnings.

The number of wildfires was near normal, with 55,500 reported for the year. The fires burned 2.6 million acres, well below the 10-year average of 7.1 million acres.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.