2020 Sets Record for Billion-Dollar Disasters

Tropical storms, tornadoes, and wildfires, along with everything else.

1 minute read

January 10, 2021, 7:00 AM PST

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


San Francisco, California

San Francisco, California, orange from wildfire smoke on September 09, 2020. | hkalkan / Shutterstock

"The nation endured an unprecedented 22 billion-dollar disasters in 2020," according to a new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).  All totaled, those 22 disasters incurred $95 billion in damage.

"A record number of named tropical storms formed in the Atlantic, with a record 12 making landfall. The nation also had its most active wildfire year on record due to very dry conditions in the West and unusually warm temperatures that gripped much of the country."

There's more: "The seven billion-dollar tropical cyclones were the most in one year since NOAA started keeping track of billion-dollar disasters in 1980."

The report was created by scientists from NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information.

Friday, January 8, 2021 in National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

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