2022 will go down as one of the most expensive weather disaster years on record.
Last year saw everything from wildfires to tornados and unforgettable hurricanes like Nichole and Ian which resulted in more than 18 separate weather events that cost at least a billion dollars.
Recommended Videos
The past three years have set all-time expensive records for weather damage.
According to NOAA, 2022 ranked third for the highest number of billion-dollar weather disasters since 1980. It comes behind 2020, with 22 billion-dollar weather disasters, and 2021, with 20.
The alarming trend continues for the eighth consecutive year (2015-2022) in which 10 or more separate billion-dollar disaster events have impacted the U.S.
NOAA’s 2022 billion-dollar weather disaster list included 11 severe storm events, three hurricanes, one flood, one winter weather event, one drought, and one wildfire event.
All total the disasters claimed the lives of 474 people-the 8th most disaster-related fatalities in the contiguous U.S. since 1980.
Hurricane Ian was the costliest reaching $112.9 billion. It places the hurricane as the country’s third-most expensive hurricane since 1980, falling behind Hurricane Katrina (2005) and Hurricane Harvey (2007).
The other landfalls were category 1 Hurricane Fiona in Puerto Rico with $2.5 billion in damage and November’s category 1 Hurricane Nicole in Florida which pounded $1 billion in damage.
While hurricanes generated the most expense, the damage was not limited to the tropics.
A winter storm and cold wave across the central and eastern U.S. broke a billion dollars in addition to flooding in Missouri and Kentucky.
Two tornado outbreaks across the southern and southeastern U.S. led to even more expensive.
Drought was the fourth-costliest year record since 1980 which amounted to $22.2 billion.