Posts Tagged ‘Weather Disasters’

U.S. Weather Disasters in 2015

Thursday, January 14th, 2016
U.S. Weather and Climate Disasters

U.S. Weather and Climate Disasters

The National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) compile historical data for severe weather and climate events for monitoring and assessment purposes. According to NCEI data, since 1980, the United States has sustained 188 weather and climate disasters where losses reached at least $1 billion (indexed to 2015 dollars). The sum of these 188 loss events exceeds $1 trillion. NCEI just published the data for 2015; last year, the United States experienced ten weather and climate disasters with losses exceeding $1 billion each. These disasters include one drought, two floods, five severe storms, one wildfire and one winter storm. What these figures do not show is the disproportionate impact on economically distressed communities, which typically lack adequate insurance coverage and other resources to finance their recoveries from disasters. And remember that 2015 was considered a “mild” year for the lack of hurricane activity.