Billion-Dollar Weather Events on the Rise
New statistics published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Centers for Environmental Information show a disturbing trend when it comes to the frequency of so-called “billion-dollar weather events” in the U.S. Specifically, 2020 broke a record for the number of natural disasters causing at least $1 billion in damage. Yikes.
What the Data Shows Around Billion-Dollar Weather Events
In 2020, the U.S. experienced 22 weather events that caused at least $1 billion in damages. This is over 37% higher than the previous annual record of 16 billion-dollar weather events set in both 2011 and 2017. All told, the 22 events caused $95 billion in cumulative damages.
The NOAA data breaks down the 22 events – it includes 7 tropical cyclones, 13 severe storms (primarily encompassing tornados, hurricanes and hailstorm events), 1 wildfire event and 1 drought event. Specific events include Tropical Storm Isaias, Tropical Storm Eta, Hurricane Sally, Hurricane Laura, Hurricane Delta and Hurricane Hanna.
Hurricane Laura was the costliest event in 2020, creating nearly $20 million in damages. The second costliest was the wildfire event, which caused over $16 billion in damages in California, Oregon and Washington.
Unfortunately, this pattern is more of a trend than an anomaly. NOAA has been collecting data on the economic impact of weather disasters since 1980, and 2020 is the sixth year in a row where at least ten billion-dollar weather events have occurred in the U.S. Obviously, climate change is the main factor contributing to this trend.
The bottom line is that utility companies have their work cut out for them when it comes to emergency preparedness in this ‘new norm.’ Simply put, there is not much choice in the matter. Climate change is not going to suddenly go away, which means that the trend around these so-called billion-dollar weather events is not going to suddenly reverse itself. The only option is to over-prepare, and up the ante when it comes to conducting emergency exercises and drills.
