U.S. struck with historic number of billion-dollar disasters in 2023

An unprecedented number of billion-dollar disasters — 28 in total — struck the U.S. in 2023, as the remarkably warm year wrapped up with a record-warm December.  

“For millions of Americans impacted by a seemingly endless onslaught of weather and climate disasters, 2023 has hit a new record for many extremes,” said NOAA Chief Scientist Sarah Kapnick. “Record warm U.S. temperatures in December, a record-setting number of U.S. billion-dollar disasters in 2023 and potentially the warmest year on record for the planet are just the latest examples of the extremes we now face that will continue to worsen due to climate change.”

Here’s a recap of the climate and extreme weather events across the U.S. in 2023:

Climate by the numbers

2023

The average annual temperature across the contiguous U.S. was 54.4 degrees F — 2.4 degrees above the 20th-century average — ranking as the nation’s fifth-warmest year in NOAA’s 129-year climate record. 

The year ended on a record-warm note as well. December 2023 ranked as the nation’s warmest December with an average temperature of 39.97 degrees F, 7.29 degrees above normal, besting the previously record-warmest December of 2021. 

Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire and Texas each saw their warmest year on record, while Connecticut, Florida, Maine, Maryland, Vermont and Virginia each saw their second-warmest. An additional 24 states experienced a top-10 warmest year on record.

Annual precipitation across the contiguous U.S. totaled 29.46 inches (0.48 of an inch below average), which placed 2023 in the driest third of the climate record. Louisiana had its eighth-driest year on record, while Maine ranked fifth wettest and Vermont and Connecticut both ranked sixth wettest. Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island all saw a top-10 wettest year.

Drought reached a peak coverage of 46.3% of the contiguous U.S. at the beginning of 2023. Drought coverage across the nation shrank as atmospheric rivers and the summer monsoon brought above-normal precipitation to much of the western U.S., recharging some of the major reservoirs that dropped to their lowest levels in 2022. Drought reduced to a minimum extent of 19% on May 30 — the smallest footprint for the contiguous U.S. since mid-2020.

Billion-dollar disasters in 2023

Last year, the U.S. experienced 28 separate billion-dollar weather and climate disasters. This surpasses 2020 — which had 22 events — for the highest number of billion-dollar disasters in the U.S. on record. 

“The U.S. was hit with more billion-dollar disasters in 2023 than any other year on record, highlighting the increasing risks from our changing climate,” said NOAA NCEI Director Deke Arndt. “Record heat waves, drought, wildfires and floods are a sobering reminder of the consequences of the long-term warming trend we’re seeing across our country. These findings underscore the need for the data products and services provided by NOAA, like this annual report, to help create a more informed and climate-ready nation.”

The 28 events from 2023 include:

• 17 severe weather/hail events.
• 4 flooding events.
• 2 tropical cyclones (Idalia in Florida and Typhoon Mawar in Guam).
• 2 tornado outbreaks.
• 1 winter storm/cold wave event.
• 1 wildfire event (Maui Island of Hawaii).
• 1 drought and heat wave event.

The total cost for these 28 disasters was $92.9 billion, but that may rise by several billion dollars when the costs of the December 16-18, 2023, East Coast storm and flooding event are fully accounted for.

Read more in our blog, 2023: A historic year of U.S. billion-dollar weather and climate disasters.

The most costly events in 2023 were the Southern/Midwestern drought and heat wave event at $14.5 billion, and the Southern/Eastern severe weather event in early March, at $6.0 billion.

Adding the 2023 events to NOAA’s billion-dollar disaster record dating back to 1980, the U.S. has sustained 376 separate weather and climate disasters. The damage costs for each of these events reached or exceeded $1 billion. The cumulative cost for these 376 events exceeds $2.660 trillion.

Other notable climate and weather events in 2023

Extreme heat scorched parts of the nation: Several historic heat waves sizzled across the U.S. in 2023.

Some of those events include:

• June 20: Del Rio, Texas, and Rio Grande, Texas, both hit 113 degrees F and San Angelo, Texas, reported a high of 114 degrees, setting the all-time heat record at each location.
• July: Phoenix, Arizona, had an average temperature of 102.8 degrees F for the month of July — the hottest month on record for any U.S. city. 
• July 16: Death Valley, California, soared to 128 degrees F, setting a daily-temperature record, and reported its hottest midnight temperature on record at 120 degrees on July 17.
• August 24: Temperatures in Chicago soared to 100 degrees F — the first 100 degree temperature since July 6, 2012. The heat index hit 120 degrees, the highest ever recorded at Chicago’s official climate observation site.
• September: San Juan, Puerto Rico, reported a monthly average temperature of 85.8 degrees F during the month of September — becoming the hottest month on record for the city.

An above-average tornado year: The tornado count for 2023 was above average with 1,197 tornadoes reported, and an additional 97 preliminary tornadoes still under verification for the October 1 to December 31 period.

Some significant tornado events from 2023 include:

• January 16: Two tornadoes were confirmed by NOAA’s National Weather Service in Iowa — the state’s first January tornadoes since 1967.
• March 22: An EF-1 tornado touched down in the Los Angeles area, developing into the strongest tornado to hit the area since 1983.
• March 31: Nearly 28 million people were under tornado watches as a widespread and deadly tornado outbreak occurred across portions of the Midwest and southern U.S. More than 110 tornadoes, including one EF-4 and eight EF-3s, were confirmed by the National Weather Service — the largest outbreak in a 24-hour period for the month of March.
• April 1: A 700-yard-wide EF-3 tornado touched down in Delaware — the widest tornado in the state's history and tying as its strongest.

A near-normal number of wildfires: The number of wildfires in 2023 was close to average, with more than 55,500 wildfires reported over the year. The total acres burned from these wildfires — 2.6 million acres — were well below the ten-year average of 7.1 million acres. In Alaska, nearly 300,000 acres burned during the 2023 fire season — less than half of the state’s seasonal average.

More > Access NOAA’s latest climate report and download the images.