Time Series

Time Series

Visualize the frequency and cost of billion-dollar weather and climate disasters using the interactive time series.

Understanding the Data

As of July 28, 2025, Climate Central now stewards the U.S. Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters dataset, continuing and expanding the foundational work established by NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). The dataset includes U.S. weather and climate events where total direct losses reached or exceeded $1 billion dollars (CPI-adjusted). These events include hurricanes, droughts, floods, wildfires, winter storms, cold wave/freeze events, and severe convective storms. By analyzing these events, we identify trends, assess vulnerabilities, and support preparedness and risk reduction decisions.

Methodology and Sources

Our analyses are grounded in multiple public and private data sources. We build upon NCEI’s event-tracking and incorporate data from FEMA, USDA, NOAA Storm Events, the National Flood Insurance Program, the National Interagency Fire Center, state agencies, and insurance industry datasets, among others. Costs represent total, direct losses (insured and uninsured) to buildings and their contents, vehicles and boats, public infrastructure (roads, bridges, levees, electrical systems), offshore energy platforms, agricultural assets (crops, livestock, commercial timber), and wildfire suppression. Estimates do not include losses to natural capital/environmental degradation, healthcare costs, the value of a statistical life (VSL), or broader supply chain and contingent business interruption costs.

Milestones to Improve Data Analysis

In 2012, NCEI (then NCDC) convened experts to review methodology and potential biases in loss assessments, resulting in peer‑reviewed guidance that improved year‑to‑year consistency and corrected underestimation biases (see Smith and Katz, 2013). Climate Central is building on that foundation by continuing methodological improvements and expanding the scope of analysis. We are developing a more comprehensive view of loss distribution by quantifying total, direct losses for sub‑billion events down to $100 million (1980–present), with new summaries planned for 2026.

For more in-depth analysis, the following report offers the latest summary on 2024: An active year of U.S. billion-dollar weather and climate disasters.