For decades, NOAA’s Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters database has been a go-to resource for tracking the rising cost and human toll of extreme weather in the United States. But earlier this year, NOAA announced that the database, covering 45 years of hurricanes, wildfires, floods, and more, would stop receiving updates after 2024. And that has left a data gap at a time when climate-related disasters are accelerating.
Thankfully, organizations like Climate Central, Inc., a policy-neutral 501(c)(3) nonprofit, are stepping in to fill the void.
According to Climate Central’s latest analysis, the numbers speak for themselves: From 1980 through 2024, the United States experienced 403 separate weather and climate disasters that each caused more than $1 billion in damages (adjusted for inflation). Together, these disasters resulted in nearly 17,000 deaths and caused more than $2.9 trillion in direct economic losses.
And these events are not just increasing in cost—they’re becoming more frequent. In the 1980s, the average time between billion-dollar disasters was 82 days. Over the last decade, that gap has narrowed to just 19 days. This rapid pace is putting increasing pressure on emergency services, infrastructure, and community recovery efforts.
The recent Hill Country flash floods in central Texas, which began on July 4, 2025, serve as a tragic illustration. At least 120 lives have been lost as of July 9, with more unaccounted for. And with events like this becoming more common, the need for accessible, up-to-date disaster data is critical—not just for scientists and insurers, but also for communities trying to plan, respond, and recover.
NOAA’s now-archived database helped inform everything from academic research to federal disaster funding and ending the updates has sparked concern among experts.
For a deeper dive into the data and what it means for disaster resilience in the U.S., you can read the full Climate Central story here.
(AI was used in part to facilitate this article.)