A historic year of U.S. billion-dollar weather and climate disasters; 2023 was the fifth-warmest year on record for the contiguous U.S. The U.S. Climate Extremes Index (USCEI) for 2023 was 65 percent above average and ranked 11th highest in the 114-year record.
In 2023, the U.S. experienced 28 weather and climate disasters each incurring losses that exceeded $1 billion. 2023 surpassed 2020, with 22 events, for the highest number of billion-dollar disasters in a calendar year. These disasters included: 17 severe storms, four flooding events, two tropical cyclones, two tornado outbreaks, one winter storm, one wildfire and one drought and heat wave event.