Climate change driving record number of disasters
- Fifteen disasters caused more than $1 billion each in damages in 2023
- That's a record amount for a seven-month span, according to the NOAA
- Weather and climate disasters have cost $2.5 trillion since 1980
A digital billboard displays an unofficial temperature, Monday, July 17, 2023, in downtown Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)
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(NewsNation) — This year has seen a record number of billion-dollar climate and weather disasters so far, collectively responsible for 113 fatalities and more than $39.7 billion in damages.
The 15 individual disasters between January and July mark the most billion-dollar disasters ever recorded for the first seven months of a year since The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) began tracking the data in 1980, the agency reported.
Those disasters include 13 severe weather events, one winter storm and one flood. That’s not counting the fires that engulfed Maui Thursday.
Recently, swaths of the Southwest including Arizona and New Mexico saw their warmest July on record. Phoenix, Arizona, in particular had an average temperature of 102.8 degrees Fahrenheit during the month of July, becoming the hottest month on record for any U.S. city, according to NOAA.
Severe storms and catastrophic flooding also took a toll on portions of the Northwest, Kentucky and Illinois. In Alaska, an extreme thunderstorm outbreak led to more than 19,000 lightning strikes that caused dozens of wildfires, according to NOAA.
Since 1980, the U.S. has been home to 363 different weather and climate disasters responsible for more than $2.59 trillion altogether, according to NOAA.
