Weather Insider: Billion-dollar disasters

If you thought that we have been having more and more billion-dollar disasters, you'd be right. Through November of 2024, the US saw 24 billion-dollar disasters. This ranks second only to 2023 which saw 28 such disasters. While Hurricanes Helene and Milton are both counted on the list, the total extent of the damages is not yet known as the number is still being calculated. We are tracking an alarming trend of increasing billion-dollar disasters throughout this century.

We are also tracking another alarming trend of an increasing frequency of these events. Back in the 1980s, the time between these events was roughly 82 days. Through November of 2024, the average number of days between billion-dollar events was a mere 12 days!