2023 a record-setting year for billion-dollar disasters

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - It’s not a record we want to break, but 2023 will go down as the year with the most billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in U.S. history. What makes that statement even more significant is it’s only mid-September.

As of this writing there are still 110 days left in 2023 to add to the extensive list of weather disasters. Hurricane season goes until November 30th, fall severe weather season is around the corner and winter weather will arrive in the coming months.

All of those suggest that additional billion-dollar weather disasters will impact the U.S. before 2023 comes to a close. There’s no guarantee, of course, though history says additional disasters will strike.

The previous record for number of billion-dollar weather and climate disasters was 22 set just a few years ago in 2020. That was a very active year in the tropics with multiple Greek letters being used to name storms in the Atlantic Basin.

Since 1980 the average number of these disasters to strike the U.S. per year is just over eight. The average spikes to 18 per year if you look at data from just the last five years.

Clearly the number of these big-time disasters has increased over the last decade. It’s a worrisome trend that will likely continue into the future based on an increasing population, growth of cities and infrastructure, and a warming atmosphere.

This year may have the most number of billion-dollar disasters, but it does not yet own the record for costliest year. That not-so-great record belongs to 2017, which had a cost of $383.7 billion.

This year does rank near the top of the list, just not quite at the top. The cost of this year’s billion-dollar disasters as of September 11th sits at $57.6 billion. This figure does not include the cost of Hurricane Idalia yet.

Once Idalia and any future disasters are added to the running total, I’m sure the cost of 2023′s billion-dollar weather disasters will rise quite a bit. To make it into the top five for costliest years the total has to exceed $154.3 billion.

The reason why this year may not be the costliest year is because it’s not over yet, and the disasters may not have been as significant as what was seen in previous years.

Of the 23 billion-dollar weather and climate disasters to strike the U.S. this year, a whopping 18 were severe storm events. This includes tornadoes, hail and wind damage. The other five disasters include two flooding events, one wildfire event, one tropical cyclone event, and one winter storm event.

For us in Alabama and in other states across the South, multiple severe weather events occurred. Most of them happened back in the winter and spring months, which is when our peak severe weather season is.

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