Billion dollar weather events in 2024

2024 Climate Records, Near Records

1/17/25 – According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 2024 was a year for climate records and near records. 2024 was the:

  • Warmest year in the contiguous United States in 130 years
  • Third wettest year of the climate record in the contiguous United States
  • Second worst year for tornadoes (with 1,735 confirmed to date)
  • Second highest year for billion-dollar weather disasters in 45 years. Twenty-seven cost a total of $182.7 billion (which was the fourth highest price tag on record).
  • Fourth highest year for hurricanes making landfall in the U.S.

Graphic Recap of 2024’s Most Significant Climate and Weather Events

The maps below come from the NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). The first shows significant climate events during 2024.

Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters

The second map shows the location and dates of the 27 billion-dollar disasters.

NOAA says 2024 ranks second highest for number of billion-dollar disasters in a calendar year, one event behind 2023’s record 28 events. The total annual cost in 2024 – $182.7 billion – may rise by several billion as additional costs from identified events are reported.

Since records began in 1980, the U.S. has sustained 403 separate weather and climate disasters where overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion. All costs are adjusted to 2024 dollars based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The total cost of these 403 events exceeds $2.915 trillion.

Since 1980, the U.S. has experienced an average of nine billion-dollar disasters per year. So 2024 tripled the average.

National Centers for Environmental Information

This is also a record 14th consecutive year when the U.S. experienced 10 or more billion-dollar disasters.

Other Stats and Key Points

The average annual temperature of the contiguous U.S. was 55.5°F, 3.5°F above average and the warmest in the 130-year record. 

Seventeen states (Texas, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine) ranked warmest on record while all but two remaining states across the Lower 48 ranked as one of the warmest five years on record.

Annual precipitation for the contiguous U.S. was 31.58 inches, 1.66 inches above average, ranking in the wettest third of the historical record (1895–2024). 

The Atlantic basin saw 18 named tropical cyclones and five landfalling hurricanes during 2024—an above-average season. Hurricane Helene was the seventh-most-costly Atlantic hurricane on record.

The tornado count for 2024 was second highest on record behind 2004 (1,817 tornadoes) with at least 1,735 confirmed tornadoes. When looking at EF-2+ tornadoes, 2024 was the most active year since the historic 2011 season.

Hurricane Helene’s extensive damage topped the list of 27 separate billion-dollar weather and climate disaster events identified during 2024.

Be cautious about generalizing about trends from these numbers. Almost every one of the stats references other record years from decades or even a century ago.

For More Information

For more detailed climate information, check out NOAA’s comprehensive Annual 2024 U.S. Climate Report. For additional information on the statistics provided here, visit NOAA’s Climate at a Glance and National Maps webpages.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 1/17/2025 based on information from NOAA and NCEI

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