Current:Home > MarketsClimate and Weather Disasters Cost U.S. a Record $306 Billion in 2017-DB Wealth Institute B2 Expert Reviews
Climate and Weather Disasters Cost U.S. a Record $306 Billion in 2017
View Date:2024-12-23 19:55:51
Hurricane Harvey’s extreme rainfall and the most devastating wildfire season on record contributed to $306 billion in damages from climate and weather disasters in the United States in 2017, shattering the previous record by more than $90 billion, according to a federal report released Monday.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s recap of the nation’s climate over the past year found that 2017 was the third-warmest on record. What’s more, it was warmer than average in every state across the lower 48 and Alaska for the third consecutive year. (Hawaii is excluded because of a lack of historical data and other factors.)
“That’s pretty unusual,” said Jake Crouch, a climate scientist at NOAA and the lead author of the report. Such a stretch hasn’t occurred in many decades, he said, and is a sign of the degree to which the climate is warming. “The contiguous United States is a pretty big place, and there are features of the climate system that usually make some places colder.”
While 2017 was not the hottest year, each of the five warmest years since record-keeping began in 1895 have come since 2006. The average annual temperature in the contiguous U.S. last year was 2.6 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th Century average, and five states registered their warmest years on record: Arizona, Georgia, New Mexico, North Carolina and South Carolina.
A Year of Billion-Dollar Disasters
But when it comes to damage, 2017 stood apart.
Until this year, the costliest year on record was 2005, when Hurricane Katrina and two other major storms contributed to $215 billion in losses. Last year, 16 weather disasters inflicted $1 billion or more in losses, which include any costs incurred as a result of a disaster, tying 2011. NOAA counts all the wildfires across California and the West as one event, and in 2017 they cost the nation $18 billion, three times more than any previous fire season.
Congress has approved more than $50 billion in disaster aid since summer, and the U.S. House in December passed a bill that would provide an additional $81 billion.
Connecting Extreme Weather to Climate Change
While it’s too early to say exactly what role a warming climate played in many of those disasters, a handful of studies have begun to shed some light. Some research has found that warming temperatures and changing precipitation patterns may be making parts of California more vulnerable to wildfires, for example. Two studies published in December found that climate change had made Harvey’s rainfall more intense—by as much as 38 percent.
At a town hall event at the annual meeting of the American Meteorological Society on Monday, Kerry Emanuel, a professor of atmospheric science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, spoke about the influence of climate changes on tropical cyclones.
“We’ve been saying for decades now that there are two things that are a pretty sure bet,” he said. “The incidence of high intensity events are going to go up in general, and rainfall from a given hurricane is going to go up a lot.”
A large body of research has suggested that as the climate warms, we’ll also see more weather extremes, from heavier rainfall to more intense drought and heat. NOAA has an index that measures such extremes, and its value was the second highest last year.
All of the findings of the NOAA report, Crouch said, amount to more warning signs for a warming world. “It’s just a continuation of a long-term temperature trend we’re experiencing both globally and here in the U.S,” he said.
veryGood! (1)
Related
- Man gets a life sentence in the shotgun death of a New Mexico police officer
- Caitlin Clark back in action: How to watch Fever vs. Sun Wednesday in Game 2
- Kenny G says Whitney Houston was 'amazing', recalls their shared history in memoir
- NFL Week 3 overreactions: Commanders are back, Vikings Super Bowl bound
- ‘Heretic’ and Hugh Grant debut with $11 million, but ‘Venom: The Last Dance’ tops box office again
- Overseas voters are the latest target in Trump’s false narrative on election fraud
- Kyle Richards’ Must-Have Tinted Moisturizer Is on Sale: Get 2 for the Price of 1 Now!
- These women spoke out about Diddy years ago. Why didn't we listen?
- Opinion: NFL began season with no Black offensive coordinators, first time since the 1980s
- Women’s only track meet in NYC features Olympic champs, musicians and lucrative prize money
Ranking
- The White Stripes drop lawsuit against Donald Trump over 'Seven Nation Army' use
- Harris plans to campaign on Arizona’s border with Mexico to show strength on immigration
- Democrats try to censure Rep. Clay Higgins for slandering Haitians in social media post
- Nashville district attorney secretly recorded defense lawyers and other office visitors, probe finds
- Kate Hudson and Goldie Hawn’s SKIMS Holiday Pajamas Are Selling Out Fast—Here’s What’s Still Available
- Jason Kelce Defends Brother Travis Kelce Amid Criticism of NFL Season
- Helene reaches hurricane status ahead of landfall in Florida: Live updates
- Love Is Blind’s Sarah Ann Bick Reveals She and Jeramey Lutinski Broke Up
Recommendation
-
Gigi Hadid and Bradley Cooper Prove They're Going Strong With Twinning Looks on NYC Date
-
Horoscopes Today, September 24, 2024
-
Helene's explosive forecast one of the 'most aggressive' in hurricane history
-
Wisconsin mayor carts away absentee ballot drop box, says he did nothing wrong
-
ONA Community Introduce
-
It's a new world for college football players: You want the NIL cash? Take the criticism.
-
Utah State joining Pac-12, which has now snapped up five Mountain West schools
-
Can AI make video games more immersive? Some studios turn to AI-fueled NPCs for more interaction