Expensive Weather Disasters Continuing To Pile Up In U.S. This Year.

The United States has now had at least 11 weather disasters so far this year that cost at least $1 billion, the National Centers for Environmental Information informs us.     

We're already up to 11 weather disasters costing at
least $1 billion in the U.S. so far this year and
hurricane season hasn't really even begun yet

That's a wicked quick pace, considering we haven't even started what still threatens to be a ferocious hurricane season.  Hurricanes are generally the most expensive disasters we get. 

Plus, summer is the season for very expensive local and regional floods. Just ask us Vermonters about last July. 

The average number of these inflation-adjusted disasters over the past five years is about 20 annually. 

The 11 disasters for 2024 are through June 10, but other weather events before that date have not been fully evaluated, and could be added to the list. 

Four new $1 billion disasters were added to the list in May. Those include the wicked derecho in and around Houston on May 16-17 that, among many other things, blew the windows out of downtown Houston skyscrapers.

Other newly listed disasters were a tornado and severe weather outbreak on April 26-28 across the central and southern Plains, and another severe weather outbreak on May 6-10 that scattered tornadoes from South Dakota to Florida.  

Currently, widespread flooding is going on in Florida. I don't know yet whether that problem will be another $1 billion headache as well. 

Climate change is of course blamed for the ever rising number of disasters. Storms tend to be more extreme as the atmosphere gets warmer and in general more moist.

It's hard to attribute whether each of these disasters were influenced by climate change and if so, by how much. Another reason why disasters are getting more expensive is there's more people in harm's way. Some developers also keep building in places vulnerable to flooding and other dangers.