In the first nine months of 2022, the United States experienced 15 natural disasters that did $1 billion or more in damage, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports.
Hurricane Ian, a Category 4 storm that struck Florida, South Carolina, was the 15th billion-dollar weather and climate disaster so far in 2022, NOAAs National Centers for Environmental Information reported Oct. 11. An atypically warm and dry September caused an increase in tropical activity in the Atlantic, the report states.
With an average temperature across the contiguous U.S. of 68.1 degrees F, September was the fifth-warmest September in the 128-year climate record. The 68.1-3.2 degree average last month was 3.2 degrees above the 20th-century average, NOAA reports.
"The year-to-date (YTD) average temperature for the contiguous U.S. was 56.8 degrees F — 1.7 degrees above average — ranking in the warmest third of the YTD record," NOAA reports. "California and Florida saw their third- and fourth-warmest January-through-September periods on record, respectively."
The YTD average precipitation total is 1.67 inches below average, at 21.53 inches, "ranked in the driest third of the record," with California experiencing its driest YTD average on record; Nebraska its sixth driest and Texas, its eighth.
Billion-dollar disasters through September include 10 severe storms, two tropical cyclones, one flooding event, one combined drought and heat wave and one regional wildfire, according to the report. Since the mid-year update, six more events have occurred: Hurricanes Fiona and Ian, western wildfires, two severe storm events and the Missouri-Kentucky flooding, NOAA reports. More than 340 people died in the disasters, according to NOAA, "a number that isn't final due to the recent hurricane impact in Florida and Puerto Rico."
"Total losses due to property and infrastructure damage is up to $29.3 billion in 2022 so far," NOAA reports, "but this does not yet include the costs for Hurricane Ian, the western wildfires and Hurricane Fiona, which may push the 2022 total closer to $100 billion — a total reached in four of the last five years."
NOAA reports that 2022 is the eighth consecutive year the U.S. experienced 10 or more separate billion-dollar disasters.
Since 1980, there have been an average of eight billion-dollar disaster events per year. In 2021, there were 20, according to a NOAA report. Over the past five years, there have been almost 18 per year, compared to just over three per year in the 1980s, 5.5 in the 1990s, 6.7 in the 2000s and 12.8 in the 2010s. These statistics have been adjusted for inflation.
