NOAA Says Was Disaster Prone, Drought Prone, And Warm And Dry During 2022

Almost all of the nation was either warmer than normal or
much warmer than normal for 2022 as a whole. Only six
Midwestern states were near normal, and none 
were cooler than average. 

 NOAA has finished crunching the weather and climate numbers in the Lower 48 of the United States for 2022 and, to nobody's surprise, it was a warm, dry year. 

The warmth did not set any records for the nation as a whole. The average annual temperature for 2022 in the Lower 48 was 53.4 degrees, or 1.4 degrees above the 20th century average. That would put last year among the warmest third of the 128 year record.

An average temperature or 1.4 degrees above normal might not seem like much, but it's fairly substantial for the entirety of a year over such a large chunk of real estate. 

Six states had one of their top 10 warmest years in 2022. Vermont wasn't quite in that list, having had its 11th warmest year on record. However, within Vermont, Burlington did have its 5th warmest year on record. 

On average, precipitation in the contiguous U.S. totaled 28.35, according to NOAA. That's 1.59 inches below average and among the driest third of the 128 years people have been keeping track of this sort of thing. 

Over the course of 2022, drought covered between 44 and 63 percent of the nation, the most extensive drought in a decade.

The United States experienced 18 weather and climate disasters that each caused at least $1 billion in damage. The only one of those disaster that affected us here in Vermont was the broad ranging winter storm the swept most of the nation on December 21-26.

Total damage from these 18 disasters amounted to $165 billion.  It was the third most costly weather year in the United States, behind 2017 and 2005 in inflation-adjusted dollars.  

Hurricane Ian made up the bulk of the destruction, with $119 billion in damage. It was the third costliest hurricane in the U.S. since at least 1980.

I'll also note that in this young year of 2023, I suspect we already have one billion dollar disaster with the storms this month in California. 

The United States had a slightly above average year for tornadoes, with a grand total of 1,331 twisters reported. March was especially busy, with 293 tornadoes reported, the  most in any year since at least 1950.