DATA
Enter
The
Price We
Pay For
Mother
Nature’s
Wrath
Data from NOAA’s National Climatic
Data Center; Costs adjusted by 2012
Consumer Price Index
HUFFINGTON
09.30.12
A summer of ominous headlines on climate disasters
warned that this season’s severe weather is only the start
— but according to data from the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, increasing frequency of such
extreme events has already begun. NOAA deemed 2011 a
year of extreme weather, and 2012 is on a similar trajectory.
As the debate between climate scientists and
climate-change deniers rages on, it is important
to remember that while these events carry the
immeasurable cost of death tolls, they also bring with
them a rapidly-rising price tag. Since 1980, the U.S.
has sustained 133 weather or climate disasters where
damages reached at least $1 billion. The total losses for
these events: over $875 billion. — Molly O’Toole
TAP THE YEARS
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011