Extreme Weather is Surging, But Hey, Who Needs NOAA Anyway?
Diary: Sunday, 16 March 2025
The National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)—a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) (you know, the agency the U.S. government conveniently tries to dismantle)—serves as the nation’s official archive for environmental data. It tracks everything from climate and weather to ocean and geophysical records, providing essential information for research, emergency management, and climate monitoring. In short, it helps people prepare for disasters—assuming they still have an emergency response team to call.
Don’t tell anyone, but according to NCEI records, the U.S. has endured 403 weather and climate disasters since 1980 where overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion (adjusted to 2024 dollars). The total damage? A jaw-dropping $2.915 trillion.
And 2024? It wasn’t pretty. The country saw 27 confirmed weather/climate disaster events with losses exceeding $1 billion each. These events include:
1 drought
1 flooding event
17 severe storms
5 tropical cyclones
1 wildfire
2 winter storms
For comparison, the annual average from 1980 to 2024 was 9 events per year, but in just the last five years (2020–2024), that number has skyrocketed to 23 per year.
So, good luck in 2025—when Elon Musk and his DOGE-funded emergency response team will be in charge. Hope you like your disaster relief in crypto.
Notes:
Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) U.S. Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters (2025). https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/billions/, DOI: 10.25921/stkw-7w73