EXTREME WEATHER

One of the most visible consequences of a warming world is the increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. The US Government’s 2023 Fifth National Climate Assessment Report finds that heat waves, drought, heavy rainfall, floods, major hurricanes and wildfires have all increased in the U.S., as has their strength. The NCA also reports that global warming increases the chances of compound extreme events, or the risk that multiple extreme weather events may occur in the same region in quick succession (These NCA links are broken as of October 2025 - see below). 

It’s affecting us economically: NOAA released a billion dollar extreme weather events map from 2000-2023 pinpointing the US locations where disaster has already struck, followed by a list of the top ten costliest events. 2023 was the highest year on record for the number of billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in the US, with 28 events.  Based on data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S. experienced 27 weather and climate disasters in 2024 that each exceeded $1 billion in damage. The total cost of these 2024 disasters was an estimated $182.7 billion, and they resulted in 568 fatalities. The annual average for the last five years (2020-2024) is 23 events. 

And, it’s affecting us everywhere:

• The Southeast is experiencing hurricanes with stronger wind speeds, more rain, and worsened storm surge — all adding up to more destruction
• The Southwest is seeing droughts lasting way longer than they are historically accustomed to
• The Northeast is the fastest-warming region in the contiguous United States, according to a recent study — and it’s heating up at a rate 50 percent faster than the global average
• Fires have intensified throughout the West as it becomes hotter and drier
• Farmers in the Midwest are experiencing more downpours increasing flooding and erosion
• “Tornado Alley" is widening with outbreaks occurring less in the Great Plains, and more often in the Southeast and Midwest. 

The consequences of doing nothing are severe. The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction 

WHERE TO GO TO LEARN MORE

• Explore this section to learn more about the consequences of climate change on extreme weather events including tornadoes, drought, heat, hurricanes, wildfires, and rainfall & floods in the U.S. 
• At the end of 2019, COLLATERAL, a website focused on Climate, Data and Science from The Weather Channel, published a history of climate change in the last decade by Bob Henson which is stunning in its perception and its diligence. After looking to the future, he closes his article quoting Katharine Hayhoe, and reminding us: “Every action matters. Every bit of warming matters. Every year matters. Every choice matters.”
• There are 1,750 designated Superfund sites across the country, 945 of which are at risk of being compromised by climate-driven storms, floods, wildfires and sea level rise. More at Inside Climate News. 
• In the end of June, 2022, Climate Central launched a tool to make every weatherman’s heart glow: called a Climate Shift Index (complete with interactive maps) it shows the daily influence of climate on weather by location!
• Michael Svoboda, from Yale Climate Connections, publishes lists of great climate change books regularly. I loved his August, 2022 another list of great climate change books. His focus, this time, was on extreme weather and the twelve recommendations cover the gamut from renowned University of Oxford researcher Friederike Otto’s Angry Weather to the newest title in a wonderful series for Grade 3 level readers ranging from air quality to rising sea levels. In July 2025 he published “Cool Books for a Hot Summer.” One of the most powerful recent nonfiction titles “We Are Eating the Earth,” by Michael Grunwald is on it. I urge you to read it.

National Climate Assessment (NCA) LINKS ARE BROKEN

As of July 2025, the National Climate Assessment website has gone dark. This is a crucial federal source of information on how climate change does/will impact the United States, especially its tracking of extreme weather events in the country. The NCA is mandated by Congress to be released every four years, with the next one due for 2027. Work had already begun on this 6th National Climate Assessment when the federal staff were let go in April, making the future of the report uncertain. 

MORE FEDERAL INFORMATION GOING DARK

NOAA announced in May 2025 that its Billion Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters database would no longer be updated beyond 2024. According to Jeff Masters, meteorologist for Yale Climate Connections, the database has since 1980 been “the gold standard we use to evaluate the costs of extreme weather, and it's a major loss, since it comes at a time when we need to better understand how much climate change is increasing disaster losses.” Since the agency has access to non-public data, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to reproduce the database.  

In addition to tracking the cost of extreme weather, NOAA oversees the National Weather Service and the National Hurricane Center, and releases daily weather forecasts, severe storm warnings, and climate monitoring. Project 2025 called for the “break up” of the agency due to it being “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry,” and the Trump administration seems to be following suit, with DOGE reducing its staff and research capacity. The major cuts to NOAA will make communities more vulnerable and put lives at risk at a time when extreme weather events are only rising due to climate change. With hundreds of staff laid off, and cuts to critical programs and data-collecting methods, there is concern about delayed or inaccurate warnings before disasters. 

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act repealed funds designated by the Biden administration for “improving research, forecasting, monitoring, and public communication of hazardous weather.” And NOAA’s budget plan for 2026 would close all NOAA labs, including the National Severe Storms Laboratory (founded in 1964), the Forecasting a Continuum of Environmental threats framework, Warn-on-Forecast project, and the Flooded Locations and Simulated Hydrographs project. 

THERE IS A CLIMATE JUSTICE COST TOO

Extreme weather is a climate justice issue too. The most vulnerable are often most at risk from extreme weather events, as communities affected by poverty, inequality, and environmental racism can bear the brunt of disasters, and lack the resources to evacuate or to rebuild.

TAKE CARE

IN SUMMARY

Hurricanes are becoming more intense, wildfires are burning longer and wider, heat waves are posing health risks, droughts are becoming more severe, and heavier rainfall and rising sea levels are increasing flood risk: extreme weather events are emphasizing the extreme urgency that we take immediate action to mitigate climate change.