The number of billion-dollar weather events affecting the U.S. has crept upward over the past few decades. (Credit: Arcady/Adobe Stock)Since 1980, the United States has averaged 7.9 billion-dollar-damage weather disasters each year and around $57.1 billion in total losses. These major weather events included drought, flooding, winter storms, hurricanes and tornado outbreaks. The number of billion-dollar weather events affecting the U.S. has crept upward over the past few decades. This change is even more striking when you look at shorter-term, recent data, which shows there were an average of 20 billion-dollar-plus weather events annually over the last three years (2020 to 2022).

Source: Forbes April 13, 2023 10:16 UTC