2023 Was the Worst Year for Severe Storms in US History
Since 1980, there have been 376 separate weather and climate events nationwide that caused at least $1 billion in damage, in current inflation-adjusted dollars. These climate-related disasters include hurricanes, floods, wildfires, and winter storms – but none happen with greater frequency than severe storms, a classification of weather events that typically involve hail, high winds, or tornadoes.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, there were a total of 186 billion-plus dollar severe storms in the U.S. between 1980 and 2023, at least three times more than any other category of billion-dollar climate disasters. In recent years, severe storms have only become more common and more destructive.
Between 1981 and 2016, there were an average of three catastrophic severe storm events in the U.S. every year. Since 2017, however, there has been an annual average of 12 – with more reported in 2023 than in any year since record keeping began.
Data from NOAA shows that there were a total of 19 severe storms that caused $1 billion or more in damage in 2023, topping the previous annual high of 13, set in 2020. Not surprisingly, the record number of billion-dollar severe storm events last year resulted in record-breaking damage – which, at an estimated $54 billion, exceeded every other other year on record by at least $10 billion.
The costliest severe storm event of 2023 took place in early March, when high winds and tornadoes spread across multiple states, including Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio, killing 13 people. Damage to homes, vehicles, business, and infrastructure totalled $6 billion. Another tornado outbreak, impacting Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, Iowa, Arkansas, Tennessee and Pennsylvania on March 31 and April 1, 2023 killed 33 people and destroyed $5.7 billion worth of property.
Last year’s severe storms were not limited to tornadoes. In August and September, baseball-sized hail resulted in over $3 billion in damage to homes, business, and vehicles in separate events in parts of Minnesota and Texas.
The increasing frequency and intensity of severe storms in the United States is beyond question. If this trend continues, 2023 will not remain the worst year on record for long.
