Insider Blog: Billion-dollar disasters

The United States has been consistently experiencing more and more billion-dollar disasters over the years. In fact, of the six years with the most billion-dollar disasters, four have been in this decade. All six have occurred in the last 15 years.

Looking at the nation as a whole, we get a snapshot of American weather. For instance, we see the highest impact from severe storms in the spring months and the greatest impact from tropical cyclones in the late summer and early fall. Droughts are fairly consistent and wildfires are most common in the latter half of the year.

When looking the the Southwest, we see a higher proportion of droughts and wildfires. This makes sense as the Southwest is known for being dry and having a higher number of wildfires. As well, disasters such as tropical cyclones and freezes/winter storms are much less frequent in our region.