From hurricanes to wildfires and everything in between, 18 weather and climate disasters across the United States each caused more than $1 billion in damages in 2022.
The disasters also caused at least 474 deaths.
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According to NOAA, 2022 ranked third for the highest number of billion-dollar weather disasters since 1980.
The average number of billion-dollar weather events from 1980 to the present is 7.9 per year. In 2022, the number of billion-dollar weather events totaled 18.
The only other years to surpass 2022 for the number of billion-dollar disasters are 2021 and 2020, with 20 and 22 billion-dollar weather events, respectively.
NOAA noted that the 18 billion-dollar weather events included the following:
Altogether, the events caused an estimated $165 billion in damages.
The costliest event of 2022 was Hurricane Ian. Costing $112.9 billion, Hurricane Ian is now the country’s third-costliest hurricane since 1980, falling behind Hurricane Katrina (2005) and Hurricane Harvey (2007).
HURRICANE IAN BY THE NUMBERS: THE SCOPE OF THE CATASTROPHIC DAMAGE
Last year was an average but destructive hurricane season with 14 named storms in the North Atlantic Basic, according to NOAA.
The year, however, saw an above-average number of tornadoes, with 1,331 tornadoes reported. This was a 9% increase above the 1991-2020 average across the U.S.
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Wildfires were notable as well, particularly in Alaska. About 1.85 million acres of The Last Frontier had burned by July 1, creating the second-highest June total on record and the seventh-highest acreage burned for any calendar month on record for Alaska.