Climate Central Revives NOAA’s Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters Database
Nonprofit Climate Central has taken up the helm of NOAA’s recently retired Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters database after the agency retired the website tracking the most expensive and devastating weather and climate disasters.
Database Revival and Importance
Climate Central revealed the return of the Billion-Dollar Disaster research analysis and website just five months after NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) announced its plans to shut down the database of billion-dollar disasters, citing “evolving priorities, statutory mandates and staffing changes.”
The database, which dates back to 1980, includes 403 billion-dollar disasters, resulting in nearly 17,000 deaths and damage totaling more than $2.9 trillion. Climate Central is committed to keeping this critical dataset accessible, timely, and transparent, and will continue to update the analysis to monitor the growing risk of weather and climate-related disasters.
Leadership and Expertise
Research analysis for the billion-dollar disaster database will continue under experienced leadership. Climate Central said Adam Smith, formerly the lead scientist for NOAA’s U.S. Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters program, will head the analysis of the relaunched database.
Recent Disasters and Impact
Deadly and devastating climate and weather disasters continue to unfold at an alarming rate. The average number of billion-dollar disasters per year has grown from about three events per year in the 1980s to nearly 20 events per year in the last decade.
According to Climate Central, since the original NOAA database has been offline, 14 billion-dollar weather and climate disasters have unfolded across the U.S., totaling $101.4 billion in damage. The Los Angeles wildfires are the costliest event so far, with damage topping $60 billion.
Search and rescue workers dig through debris looking for any survivors or remains of people swept up in the flash flooding on July 6, 2025 in Hunt, Texas. Heavy rainfall caused flooding along the Guadalupe River in central Texas with multiple fatalities reported.
(Jim Vondruska/Getty Images / Getty Images)
Conclusion and Reference
Devastating spring severe weather, including tornadoes, also contributed to the busy first half of 2025. Climate Central said the first half of 2025 is well above the inflation-adjusted annual average of nine weather events over the past 46 years.
For more information on the Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters database, visit Here
Image Source: www.foxweather.com
