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Billion Dollar Weather Disasters
Description
There were 22 weather disasters across the United States in 2020 that each caused more than $1 billion in damages. This video provides a quick overview of these disasters, including Hurricane Sally, droughts, wildfires, derechos, and tornado outbreaks.
Importance
2020 sets the new annual record of 22 events - shattering the previous annual record of 16 events that occurred in 2011 and 2017. 2020 is the sixth consecutive year (2015-2020) in which 10 or more billion-dollar weather and climate disaster events have impacted the United States. Over the last 41 years (1980-2020), the years with 10 or more separate billion-dollar disaster events include 1998, 2008, 2011-2013, and 2015-2020.
Technical Backstory
This video was created as part of the Global Systems Laboratory overview video for the 2021 Lab Review. Data for the visualization comes from the National Center for Environmental Information’s Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters: Overview
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