2023 Worst Year On Record For Billion-Dollar Climate Disasters, NOAA Says

This year is already the worst year on record for billion-dollar climate disasters in the U.S., a report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said, as experts warn that extreme events are likely to become more frequent and intense unless drastic action is taken to curb human-driven climate change.

There have been 23 separate weather or climate disasters in 2023 so far that have caused at least $1 billion in estimated damages, the NOAA report said.

With four months of 2023 still left and damages from several recent disasters still being calculated, the figure has already surpassed the record of 22 billion-dollar disasters for all of 2020, NOAA said.

The list covers two flooding events, 18 severe weather events, one winter storm event, one wildfire event and one tropical cyclone.