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BACKGROUND: Climate Disasters & Extreme Weather

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Last Updated: 5/8/26

Extreme weather disasters are often one of the most visible ways the climate crisis impacts our lives. While the academic and scientific world has been warning about the links between climate change and extreme weather, the general public is only just beginning to understand why disasters such as flooding, tropical storms, extreme heat, drought, and wildfires are becoming more severe. This page contains helpful links to sources that explain the science and the costs of climate change’s impact on extreme weather.

Extreme Rainfall And Flooding

Big Picture

The National Climate Assessment report in 2023 made it clear that heavy rainfall events are increasing nationally. These are driven by warmer air holding more water vapor in the atmosphere. As warming temperatures have intensified rainfall over the last 30 years, flood costs have risen by $2.5 billion, which can be directly linked to climate change. 

Again, investments in transitioning to clean energy and reducing global warming emissions can help slow the warming of our atmosphere, which will limit the amount of moisture that can fall in a given area at once, but further investments will be needed to protect against the flooding that is already happening. Flooding threatenscritical infrastructure such as drinking water facilities, bridges, and dams. Funding to replace, reinforce, and upgrade our aging stormwater infrastructure can go a long way toward protecting our homes and businesses.

Link To Climate Change

• Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of flooding events due to more frequent and intense storms, ongoing sea level rise, snowmelt, and flash flooding events.
  • The proportion of people across the globe living in flood-prone areas has risen by 20% to 24% since 2000. 
  • In the United States, coastal floods occur three times more often than they did 30 years ago. By 2050, floods are projected to occur ten times more often than they do today. 
• A 2022 study published in the journal Nature found that climate change is expected to cause a 26.4% increase in US flood damage risk by 2050.
• According to the National Climate Assessment, human-caused warming contributed to nearly 70% of heavy precipitation events across the U.S.
• Climate “Whiplash” events, where areas transition from extremely wet to extremely dry conditions, have increased worldwide by 31% to 66%. These events increase the impact of floods. 
• A March 2025 report from Climate Central found that climate change is charging the water cycle, creating heavier rainfall extremes and related flood risks.
  • Across 126 U.S. cities, hourly rainfall rates have increased on average by 15% since 1970.
    • On average, these 126 locations have experienced a 15% increase in hourly rainfall intensity since 1970.
    • 65% of the 144 locations analyzed experienced an increase in hourly rainfall intensity of 10% or more.
  • In every U.S. region, hourly rainfall intensity has increased with the largest average increases occurring among cities in the Upper Midwest, Northern Rockies and Plains, and Ohio Valley. 
  • With two degrees Celsius of global warming, 85% of the 3,111 total U.S. counties studied are likely to experience a 10% or higher increase in precipitation falling on the heaviest 1% of days.

Climate Change Has Led To Increased Rainfall 

• For every 1°F of warming, the air can hold 4% more moisture, increasing the chances of heavier downpours that contribute to flash flooding hazards. 
• In the contiguous United States, annual precipitation has increased by a rate of .2 inches per decade since 1901. 
• According to research from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, extreme daily rainfall has become more frequent since the 1980s. 
• According to the IPCC 2023 report, with every increment of global warming, heavy precipitation and flooding events are expected to become more widespread and pronounced in regions across the globe.
  • Projected increases in direct flooding damages are higher by 1.4 to 2 times at 2°C and 2.5 to 3.9 times at 3°C, compared to 1.5°C global warming without adaptation. 
• With 2°C of warming, 85% of 3,111 total U.S. counties are likely to experience a 10% or higher increase in precipitation falling on the heaviest 1% of days.
  • On average, U.S. counties are likely to experience a 17% increase in precipitation falling on the heaviest 1% of days.  
• The 2023 National Climate Assessment concluded that since the 1950s, there has been an upward trend in heavy precipitation events across the contiguous United States.
  • The report attributed climate change to causing the average annual precipitation from 2002 to 2021 to be 5% to 15% higher relative to the 1901-1960 average in the central and eastern U.S.
• A 2021 report from the UN’s IPCC panel warned that heavy downpours that used to occur once every 10 years now occur 30% more frequently because of climate change.
• A study published in June 2020 confirmed that climate change is driving more frequent extreme rainfall events in North America.
• According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), coastal communities are expected to face three times as many high-tide, or “sunny day,” flooding instances through next April, compared to two decades ago.
  • Particularly susceptible are the mid-Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts, where El Niño conditions are likely to compound the effects of rising seas.
  • NOAA predicts nine to 15 high-tide flooding days in the mid-Atlantic and seven to 14 days for the western Gulf, a nearly 350% increase for those regions since 2000. 
  • By 2050, NOAA’s long-term projections show that the U.S. will encounter 45 to 85 high-tide flooding days on average per year.
• Summer 2024 was the most humid in 85 years of record-keeping in the U.S. and likely the most humid summer on Earth.
• According to a May 2024 report, climate change-induced warming has contributed to an intensification of extreme precipitation days across every major U.S. region.
  • The study predicted that with a 2 degrees Celsius warming, 85% of reported counties are likely to experience a 10% or higher increase in precipitation falling on the heaviest 1% of days. 

Deaths And Damages

Increased Rainfall Threatens The Safety Of Thousands Of People Across The U.S.

• From 2008 to 2024, floods have internally displaced approximately 1 million people in the U.S.
  • 481,000 people were internally displaced in the U.S. in 2024 alone. 
• In North America, the number of people exposed to a 100-year coastal flooding event is projected to increase by 71% From 2020 to 2040. 
• From January 1, 2025, to July 15, 2025, a total of 3,040 flash flood warnings were issued across the United States, the highest number on record. 
• In July 2025, four 1-in-1,000-year rainfall events occurred across the country in less than a week.
  • 1-in-1,000-year rainfall events have  a 0.1% chance of happening
• As of July 8, 2025, 30 points across the country had experienced 1-in-1,000-year rainfall events. In all of 2024, there were just 35 events. 
• In 2024, water disasters killed at least 8,700 people, displaced more than 40 million people, and caused $550 billion in damages. 
• From 1988 to 2021, inland flooding in the United States caused $230 billion in damages, about $84 billion of which were due to climate change-induced warming causing heavier rainfall. 
• According to the IPCC 2022 report, coastal, riverine, and urban flooding affecting communities and ecosystems will become a dominant risk to urban centers.
  • Flooding will displace people, compromise economic activity, and disrupt transportation and trade infrastructure.
  • Between 2010 and 2020, droughts, floods, and storms killed 15 times as many people in highly vulnerable countries, particularly in Africa — which is responsible for less than 3% of global emissions — than in the wealthiest countries.
  • Globally, more than one billion people in low-lying settlements face hazards such as sea-level rise, subsiding coasts, or flooding at high tides, while 350 million urban residents live with the threat of water scarcity.
• Flood risks are inequitable. Racial minorities and those living in mobile homes are disproportionately exposed to flood risk, especially in rural areas and in the south.
  • A 2021 study found that renters, low-income individuals, and minorities disproportionately experienced barriers to accessing flood recovery resources and programs.  
• Vulnerability to flood risks is expected to increase. A 2024 report found that about 1.9 million people in the contiguous U.S. currently live in areas at risk from a major coastal flood in 2030.
  •  Approximately one-fifth of those people are younger than 18 years old. 

Increased Rainfall Has Caused Costly Damage Across The U.S.

• According to NOAA, From 1980-2023, flood-related losses have cost the country an average of $4.3 billion per year.
• From 1980-2025, 45 billion-dollar floods have cost the U.S. $208.7 billion. 
• The rising costs of flood damage in the U.S. have been directly linked to climate change.
  • As warming temperatures have intensified rainfall over the last 30 years, flood costs have risen by $2.5 billion.
  • According to an Environmental Working Group 2022 report, insurance payments to U.S. farmers for crops lost to droughts and flooding have risen more than threefold over the past 25 years.
• Flooding is the most common and costly natural disaster in the U.S., significantly affecting homes, businesses, infrastructure, and the environment.
  • A 2021 NOAA analysis of major disasters since 1980 found that inland flooding accounted for $150 billion in damage during major disasters, which are those that cause at least $1 billion in damage.
  • According to the 2023 National Climate Assessment, inland flooding in the U.S. caused $230 billion in damages from 1988 to 2021. Over one-third of those damages were attributed to precipitation changes due to climate warming. 
• Since 2000, flood-related disasters in the U.S. accounted for more than $850 billion in damage and losses.
• From 2009 to 2019, flooding prompted 73% of all presidential disaster declarations.
• From 1978 to 2017, atmospheric rivers accounted for $42.6 billion in estimated flood damages across 11 western states. 

In 2026, Flooding Events Have Already Set Records

• In January 2026, record King Tides and an atmospheric river flooded the San Francisco waterfront and regional highways in California.
  • Downpours and high tides caused flooding, road closures, and rescues of people trapped in cars. 
• In January 2026, record warmth and heavy rainfall produced rare January flash flooding in Chicgo, Illinois, and set numeroud single-day January precipitation records across Wisconsin. 

In 2025, Flooding Events Caused at Least 204 Deaths

• On August 9th and 10th, 2025, Milwaukee, Wisconsin and the surrounding area experienced flash flooding, resulting in two deaths, 51 destroyed homes, and $76 million in damage. 
• On Friday, July 4, 2025, heavy rains from the remnants of Tropical Storm Barry caused the Guadalupe River, located outside of San Antonio, Texas, to rise 29 feet in just 45 minutes, the second-highest level on record.
  • The storm caused at least 135 confirmed storm-related deaths. 
  • Of the confirmed fatalities, 106 deaths occurred in Kerr County, including 36 children. 
  • Camp Mystic, a children’s camp located in the Texas Hill Country along the Guadalupe River, confirmed that at least 27 campers and counselors died in the flooding. 
  • The Guadalupe River Basin is one of the most at-risk regions for flash flooding in the United States. 
• In July 2025, at least three people were killed in New Mexico after 2.5 inches of rain rapidly fell, triggering a surge of runoff into Rio Ruidoso. The river rose more than 19 feet in less than an hour and crested at a record-breaking 20.24 feet – five feet higher than the previous record. 
• In June 2025, flash floods killed at least nine people in West Virginia after as much as four inches of rain fell over parts of Ohio County in 30 minutes. 
• In February 2025, heavy rainfall caused widespread flooding in Kentucky. Over 300 roads were closed, more than 40,000 customers were left without power and over 1,000 water rescues occurred. The flooding combined with freezing temperatures led to at least 24 deaths.  

In 2024, Flooding Events Caused At $1.1 BillionIn Damages And 181 U.S. Deaths

• In June 2024, a flooding event in the Midwest caused catastrophic flooding, destroying roads and bridges and partially failing a dam. 
• In September 2024, North Carolina experienced a once-in-1,000-year rainfall event after 18 inches of rain fell in 12 hours at Carolina Beach. 

In 2023, Flooding Caused At Least $9.3 BillionIn Damages And 79 U.S. Deaths

• In April 2023, Fort Lauderdale and surrounding areas were hit with over 25 inches of rainfall in less than 24 hours that caused historical rainfall and flash flooding.
  • Flooding severely impacted homes, businesses, and vehicles and led to the closure of the Fort Lauderdale Airport. 
• In July 2023, severe storms brought devastating flooding to portions of the Northeast, where areas reported up to eight inches of rainfall within a 24-hour period.
  • Montpelier, Vermont received a record-breaking 5.28 inches of rain, flooding the city and damaging thousands of homes and businesses. 
  • Early estimates found that the flood damage in West Point, New York was more than $100 ($103.0) million.
  • Severe storms caused high wind and hail impacts across Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois.
• In December 2023, from Florida to Maine, powerful storms produced widespread impacts from heavy rainfall, flooding, high winds and coastal erosion.
  • The heavy rainfall and snowmelt were amplified by record-high temperatures in the Northeast.
• From December 2022 to March 2023, numerous atmospheric rivers in continuous succession caused severe flooding, record snowfall, and heavy rainfall across California.
  • Flooding impacted many homes, businesses, levees, agriculture and other infrastructure particularly across central California.

In 2022 Alone, Flooding CausedAt Least $1.5 Billion In Damages And 102 U.S. Deaths

• In July 2022, Eastern Kentucky and eastern Missouri were impacted by major flooding, which damaged thousands of homes, businesses, vehicles, and other infrastructure in late July
  • Areas around St. Louis received 8-12 inches of rainfall that required swift water rescues due to flooded interstates and homes.
  • Over 600 helicopter rescues and many swift water rescues by boat were needed to evacuate people who were trapped by the quickly-rising flood waters.
  • The North Fork of the Kentucky River at Jackson also reached a major flood stage setting a new record crest of 43.47 feet.

In 2021, Flooding Caused At Least $2.8 Billion In Damages And 146 U.S. Deaths

• In March 2021, flooding across Tennessee caused 6 deaths.
• In April 2021, severe storms and flooding across the South caused at least 3 deaths.

In 2020, Flooding CausedAt Least 59 Deaths

• In November 2020, at least 11 people were killed during flash floods in North Carolina.

Impact On Agriculture

• In 2024, the Farm Service Agency reported prevented-planting acres at 4.7 million acres. The states with the highest number of prevented planting acres include: North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Arkansas, and Louisiana.
  • In 2019, 19.4 million acres of farmland went unplanted because of heavy rainfall and flooding. The combination of Trump’s trade war and extreme weather meant that farm bankruptcies surged up 24% in 2019.

State Specific Impacts

Florida

• In 2023, Florida claimed over $1.2 billion in crop losses. Losses linked to Hurricane Idalia, flooding and other precipitation events in the state accounted for over 65% of damages. 

Georgia

• In Georgia, vidalia onion growers saw crop losses due to wet winter conditions in 2020. Harvest for one Georgia onion grower was expected to be around 40% less than 2019.
• Wet and cold Spring weather delayed the harvest of peanut crops in Georgia.
• By the end of April, vegetable growers in Georgia continued to battle disease problems brought on by wet Spring conditions.
• March flooding in the middle of the state caused farmers to push back planting on 
• crops including watermelon.

Michigan

• In September 2021, farmers in Michigan were faced with planting or harvesting delays from storms.
  • Pepper, cabbage and pumpkin harvesting were expected to be delayed by at least 3 to 4 days with those crops still in the fields.
  • Wheat planting was expected to be delayed at least 8 to 10 days.
  • Corn harvests were expected to be delayed by week to 10 days, with worries about tar spot possibly damaging the crops.
• In 2019, heavy rain delayed the harvest of crops in Michigan including corn, soybeans and wheat. 2019 was the third straight wet spring that threw corn and soybean farming into chaos, with planting of these crops falling historically late and threatening yields for the Fall.
  • As spring rains become heavier and storm violence increases, there will be an increase in nutrient runoff from farm fields in Michigan, a key driver of algae blooms in places like western Lake Erie.

North Carolina

• In 2024, Hurricane Helene impacted several western North Carolina farms.
  • Flooding from Canoe Creek in Marion, North Carolina drowned $60,000 worth of produce. 
• In 2020, flooding of the Cape Fear River in North Carolina’s Duplin Country destroyed a field of soybeans.
• Flooding from Tropical Storm Zeta impacted crop fields and delayed harvests in North Carolina.

Texas

• In 2023, Texas suffered over $4.8 billion in crop losses from extreme weather events and approximately 20% of the losses were attributed to Tropical Storm Harold, flooding, and hailstorms. 
• In June 2021, farmers in Texas faced problems, including rotting seeds, poor development and denitrification, with cotton, corn, sunflower and wheat crops thanks to heavy rainfall.

Vermont

• According to the Vermont Agriculture Recovery Task Force, rainstorms and catastrophic flooding in July 2023 caused nearly $45 million in crop losses. 264 farms reported flood damage on more than 27,000 acres of farmland.
  • Flooding from the storm was declared the state’s worst natural disaster since floods in 1927.
  • An estimated $70 million in overall damages was caused by the flooding statewide. 

Climate Change Is Already Changing Crop Planting And Growing Seasons

• Optimal planting zones for different species of plants are already shifting north and will continue to shift further away in the coming decades.
  • About 67% of 243 U.S. locations analyzed have already shifted to warmer planting zones from the past (1951-1980) to the present (1995-2024).
• Our warming climate can even lead to unexpected cold snaps by disrupting the polar vortex.
  • This can be devastating to certain crops like Michigan tart cherries after erratic spring weather prompts trees to bloom earlier before getting hit with a surprise late frost.
• Changing precipitation patterns due to climate change may result in excess water and flooding during off seasons and planting seasons, but limited water during critical crop growth periods.
• Changes to growing seasons in some areas will also mean insects spawning multiple generations per season and producing more generations per year. In addition to adding more insects to the environment, this can lead to pests developing greater resistance to insecticides.
• Changing winter temperature and humidity will require adapting grain storage.

Threats To Critical Infrastructure

Flooding and Sea Level Rise Threaten Coastal Infrastructure 

• A March 2026 study found that as many as 132 million more people than previously thought may be in the path of rising seas. 
• A 2021 study found that over the next 30 years, about 25% of critical infrastructure, including police stations, airports and hospitals, are at risk of being inoperable due to flooding. An additional 1.2 million residential properties are also at risk.
  • As of 2021, 2 million miles of road were at risk of becoming impassable due to flooding and 12.4 million residential properties were at operational risk. 
• A 2023 report from the Congressional Budget Office found that homes with federally backed mortgages had expected annual damage of $9.4 million from flooding events in 2020. This amount was expected to rise by about one-third to $12.8 billion by 2050.
• Flooding threatens coastal property and infrastructure. According to the EPA, while coastal counties make up only 10% of the nation’s land mass (excluding Alaska), they are home to 40% of the population.
  • More than $1 trillion worth of property is located within 700 feet of the coast. These properties’ proximity to water bodies puts them at risk of extreme weather events including high tide flooding, which can damage or destroy property or make real estate uninhabitable.
    • A 2019 study found that from 2005 to 2017, property value losses from coastal flooding in 17 states were nearly $16 billion. Florida, New Jersey, New York and South Carolina each saw more than $1 billion in losses.
  • More than 60,000 miles of roads and bridges are located in U.S. coastal floodplains. Increased flooding of roads and bridges can delay or disrupt transportation. 
  • Coastal counties produce more than $9.5 trillion in goods and services each year. Communities on the coasts also support more than 58 million jobs in the fishing, tourism, real estate, defense, and other industries. Damages to the coasts from coastal flooding can negatively impact the economy through property damages, cleanup costs, and interruptions to business operations and community services.  
• Flooding threatens critical infrastructure such as drinking water facilities, bridges, dams, and as many as 551 toxic chemical sites.
  • Flooding from extreme rainfall in 2019 took six drinking water treatment plants offline and overwhelmed wastewater facilities.
  • A report from the Government Accountability Office found 551 superfund sites that are vulnerable to flooding driven by climate change.
  • Around 60% of all non federal Superfund sites are located in areas that may be impacted by climate change fuelled flooding, storm surge, wildfires, or sea level rise.
• Cities with aging water infrastructure are vulnerable to flooding caused by heavy downpours accelerated by climate change.
• From 2004 to 2014, urban flooding alone cost communities an average of $9 billion annually in direct damages, in addition to 71 deaths.
  • The trajectory of urban flooding impacts will likely exacerbate existing funding gaps as older stormwater assets cannot accommodate the changing rainfall patterns and intensity.
• A 2015 analysis by the U.S. Department of Energy estimated that sea level rise is likely to cause storm-surge exposure increases of 12% to 40% for power plant assets and 18% to 44% for substations.

Sea Level Rise, Flooding, And Transportation

• Heavy rainfall and flash flooding can obstruct roads or railroads, wash out the ground underneath roads and bridges, and cause other physical damage to transportation systems. 
• During Hurricane Sandy in 2012, flooding closed 150 New York City subway stations for days to weeks, and led to $5 billion in repairs to tunnels connecting Manhattan to Brooklyn.
• Up to 100,000 U.S. bridges, particularly in the eastern U.S., are vulnerable to future flooding from increased river flows linked to heavier rainfall. Adapting these bridges to avoid increased climate-related damage could cost $140 billion to $250 billion by 2100. 
• Rising sea levels threaten coastal transportation systems, including the roughly 60,000 miles of U.S. highways in coastal areas. Sea level rise worsens coastal erosion, which can wash out the ground underneath roads, railroads, and bridges.
• High tide flooding is becoming more common along U.S. coasts. The annual frequency of high tide flooding in the U.S. has more than doubled since 2000 and is projected to more than triple again by 2050 as sea levels continue to rise.
• High tide flooding can regularly submerge and close roads, causing frequent delays and rising frustrations for commuters. Repeated flooding can also gradually degrade the structural integrity of roads. 
• Future sea level rise is projected to cause a 10-fold increase in the duration of East Coast traffic delays due to high tide flooding by 2060 (compared to the 2010s). Under an intermediate sea level rise scenario, high tide flooding could occur almost daily by 2056 to 2065 at sites in Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, Washington, D.C., North Carolina, and Florida.
• A 2019 Colorado State University study found that climate change accelerates deterioration of aging bridge infrastructure.
• The closure of roads, bridges, tunnels, ports, and other assets, which is common during and after extreme rainfall, can delay the production and distribution of goods and services businesses need to operate during disasters and to return to normal afterwards.
• Nearly 600,000 miles of rivers and streams and more than 13 million acres of lakes, reservoirs, and ponds across the U.S. are considered impaired.
  • From 2010 to 2018, the length of impaired rivers and streams increased from about 424,000 miles to more than 588,000 miles.

Water Systems 

• There is currently a water-related infrastructure investment gap of $434 billion over 10 years for drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater combined.
• According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, “Given the recent increase in rainfall trends and urbanization, the actual capacity of a stormwater system is often less than the design standard.”
• With an average lifespan of between 20 to 30 years, storage and treatment systems constructed in the 1970s or before have exceeded or are nearing the end of their lives. These systems are also likely too small to deal with current stormwater management practices and climate change impacts.
• As climate change intensifies, septic failures are emerging as an issue for local governments.
  • About 20% of U.S. households rely on septic. Many systems are clustered in coastal areas that are experiencing relative sea-level rise.
    • Of the 120,000 septic systems in Miami-Dade County, more than half of them fail to work properly at some point during the year, helping to fuel deadly algae blooms in Biscayne Bay.
  • Sea level rise, changing water tables, precipitation changes and increased temperature can cause systems to fail.
  • When there are septic failures, bacteria and parasites from human waste flow into drinking water supplies or recreational waters, creating a public health problem.
• The growing severity and frequency of flooding is pushing more sediment into the navigation channels, requiring more frequent dredging to keep the Mississippi River and its tributaries navigable.
• 10,000 residents were evacuated from Midland County, MI when two dams were breached in May 2020 following several inches of rain falling over the area in a short period of time.
  • A nearby Dow Chemicals plant was threatened by floodwaters entering containment ponds, though officials say no chemicals were released in this incident.
  • In Michigan alone, 20 toxic sites are at risk of spilling contaminants due to climate-induced flooding.
  • Over 80 levee systems within the U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers’ (USACE) portfolio were overtopped and breached, some multiple times. In total, 700 miles of levees were damaged.
  • Estimates indicate that levee repairs from these floods alone could reach $1 billion.
• Aging levee infrastructure that currently protects millions of Americans is in dire need of repair.
  • Communities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Guam depend on levees to mitigate flood risk.
  • 17 million people across the U.S. live or work behind a levee.
  • Levees protect $2.3 trillion of property, 4,500 schools, and a range of industries.
  • Around 45% of the U.S. population live or work behind a high or very high risk levee.
  • 80% of high or very high risk levees were found to have one or more levee performance concerns that would likely result in a breach prior to overtopping.
  • Approximately 30% of FEMA accredited levees within the USACE’s portfolio are considered to be moderate, high, or very high risk.
    • These levee systems have about 3.6 million people living or working behind them and protect $400 billion worth of property.
  • 13% of assessed levee systems in the USACE’s portfolio have either no flood warning plan or their plan is out of date, which impacts more than 600,000 people living and working behind these levees.
  • An estimated $21 billion is needed to improve and maintain the moderate, high, and very high risk levees in the USACE’s levee portfolio.
• Outdated precipitation estimates are hampering design and construction standards for roads, storm-water systems, dams and construction regulations. Without adequate data, the infrastructure relied upon by communities across the U.S. will continue to be woefully underprepared to manage extreme rainfall events.
  • Standards used in many states no longer accurately portray the risk to infrastructure intended to last 50 years or longer. Most of the country’s infrastructure assets were designed and constructed to serve fewer people under less volatile weather conditions than exist today.
  • Many states rely on rainfall estimates, known as Atlas 14, that are produced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Data for 12 states (DE, IN, KY, MD, NJ, NC, OH, PA, SC, TN, VA, WA) have not been updated since 2006, while Oregon and Washington, having never sought an Atlas 14 estimate, are using data from 1961.

How Infrastructure Investments Can Help

Gray Infrastructure Upgrades

• Updating the nation’s roads, bridges, schools, hospitals, and other critical infrastructure to better withstand future flood events will help improve community resilience and reduce taxpayer losses.
• Adapting existing buildings to be “flood ready” may include elevating the bottom floor of the building, elevating utilities, changing the basement into an above-grade level crawl space, and providing vents for flood water to enter and leave the crawl space.
• In Kuala Lumpur, traffic tunnels are designed to be able to transition to stormwater management during intense rainfall events, an example of multifunctional infrastructure.
• Traditional ‘gray’ infrastructure, including flood control dams and reservoirs, channel modifications, floodwalls, and levees, are the most common flood mitigation tools.
• Installing new pumping capacity and raising roads to protect at-risk properties are techniques employed by U.S. cities such as Miami to mitigate flood damage.
• A 2014 University of Colorado Denver study found that severe flooding witnessed by the state in 2013 might have been less destructive if bridges, roads and other infrastructure had been upgraded or modernized.
• U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers (USACE) levee and shore protection projects protected almost $350 billion in flood damages from October 2018 to September 2019 alone.
• In 2011, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration invested $1.3 million in the city of Huntingburg, Indiana for flood protection from wastewater. The investment was accompanied by nearly $500,000 from the state and $909,000 from the city, which allowed for the construction of an earthen berm and other items to protect the city’s wastewater treatment plant from heavy rains and flooding.

Green Infrastructure

• Reducing the volume of stormwater runoff via green infrastructure techniques is a cost-effective way to manage the frequency and severity of localized urban flooding.
  • By reducing stormwater runoff and protecting floodplains, green infrastructure can help manage both localized and riverine floods.
  • Green infrastructure practices that enhance infiltration include rain gardens, bioswales, and permeable pavements.
  • The City of New York has added over 13,000 green infrastructure assets including rain gardens and storage tanks to address the threat of sea-level rise.
    • Starting in 2026, all New York City-owned infrastructure and public facilities are expected to be required to meet design criteria to better withstand extreme weather.
    • Since 2020, the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project has been working on reducing flood risk from coastal storms and sea level rise by elevating lower Manhattan’s East River Park by and installing flood protections. 
  • The Capitol Region Watershed District in Ramsey County, Minnesota successfully implemented a series of green infrastructure practices to reduce localized flooding:
    • Selected practices included rain gardens, underground infiltration trenches, an underground storage and infiltration system, and a regional stormwater pond.
    • All of the practices, except the stormwater pond, which was not completed at the time, reduced runoff volumes by 99 – 100%.
    • Installing the green infrastructure, at an estimated cost of $2 million, was more cost-effective than installing an all-gray infrastructure alternative – at an estimated cost $2.5 million for a new 60-inch diameter storm sewer pipe.
  • To combat riverine flooding, the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) partnered with The Conservation Fund to protect land with water-absorbing soil in regions experiencing high growth.
    • As of 2013, the program had protected over 2,700 acres of land capable of storing an estimated 1.3 billion gallons of water. Protecting this land reduced future flows and contaminants into receiving rivers, thus mitigating future flooding.
• Restoring and protecting flood plains will limit the effects, and the subsequent cost, of floods.
  • Floodplains act as the first defense against flood damage by holding water when a river’s banks are breached and by slowing down the rise and flow of water.
• Natural infrastructure provides an estimated $23.2 billion in storm protection services annually.
• Natural infrastructure solutions could help avert more than 45% of the climate risk in the Gulf of Mexico over a 20-year period, saving the region over $50 billion in flood damages.
• In cities with combined sewer systems, green infrastructure controls can cost less than conventional controls and green-gray approaches can reduce public expenditures on stormwater infrastructure.
• Integrating green infrastructure into the site design can result in net cost savings by decreasing the amount of required below-ground drainage infrastructure and other stormwater management related facilities.

Hurricanes And Tropical Storms

Big Picture

Scientistshavefoundtimeaftertime that human-caused climate change is making hurricanes and tropical storms stronger with higher water surface temperatures that provide fuel for more intense hurricanes. 

Investments in transitioning to clean energy and reducing global warming emissions can help slow the warming of our atmosphere and oceans, which will help slow down the intensity of future hurricanes, but further investments will be needed to protect our electrical grid and drinking water infrastructure. Additional investments in natural stormwater infrastructure such as protecting wetlands could save the Gulf of Mexico region over$50 billion in flood damages.

Link To Climate Change

• Scientists have found time after time that human-caused climate change is making hurricanes more frequent and more intense.
• The frequency and magnitude of rapid intensification events in the Atlantic, which lead to tropical storms, is increasing.
  • According to a 2023 study, the average modern (2001-2020) maximum intensification rate of cyclones has increased by up to 28.7% compared to historical (1971-1990) cyclones. 
  • The study also found that the number of cyclones that went from a Category 1 hurricane (or weaker) into a major hurricane within 36 hours has more than doubled in the modern era relative to the historical era.
  • One study found that all eleven hurricanes in 2024 intensified by nine to 28 mph due to the record-breaking ocean warmth of the 2024 hurricane season. During the season, climate change-induced warming caused ocean temperatures to increase as much as 2.5 degrees fahrenheit.
    • Climate change-induced warming from human activities strengthened Hurricane Helene by 16 mph and Hurricane Milton by 23 mph. 
  • In August of 2025, Hurricane Erin rapidly intensified into a Category 5 storm. This hurricane intensification is one of the fastest on record, and was made up to 100 times more likely due to climate change.
• A 2025 Climate Central report found that climate change made the ocean temperatures that led to Hurricane Katrina 18 times more likely and increased Katrina’s maximum sustained wind speed by 5 mph. 
• A July 2025 study found that climate change has been fueling nor’easters, coastal cyclones that heavily impact cities along the U.S. East Coast,  increasing their maximum wind speeds and hourly precipitation rates.
  • The study analyzed 900 storms in total and found that the maximum windspeed of the most intense nor’easters increased by about 6% since 1940, the equivalent of a 20% increase in the storm’s destructive potential. 
• The impacts of Hurricane Helene were exacerbated by climate change. Researchers found that due to climate change-induced warming, the rolling air mass that made up Helene contained 42% more water vapor than any other observed storm in western North Carolina since 1940. 
• Researchers found that from 2019 to 2023, maximum wind speeds generated by roughly 80% of Atlantic Basin hurricanes intensified by an average of 18 mph.
  • These hurricanes were found to be fuelled by sea surface temperatures that were made higher by human-caused global warming. 
• In June 2024, Hurricane Beryl became the first category 4 hurricane to form during the month of June.
  • Typically, ocean temperatures are not warm enough at the surface or deeper down to furl strong hurricanes this early in the Atlantic hurricane season. Record temperatures due to human caused climate change have likely contributed to creating the ideal conditions for Hurricane Beryl to develop rapidly. 
  • According to the National Hurricane Center, on July 2, 2024, Beryl became the earliest Category 5 hurricane observed in the Atlantic on record and only the second Category 5 hurricane to occur in July after Hurricane Emily in 2005. 
  • At max strength Beryl became the strongest July Atlantic hurricane on record, with winds of 165 mph. Hurricane Emily only reached maximum sustained winds of 160 mph. 
• An analysis of 2019’s Tropical Storm Imelda found that precipitation was 9%-17% more intense because of climate change.
• A study from Stony Brook University found that 2018’s Hurricane Florence was about 9 km larger in diameter due to climate change.
• Scientists from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research said that 2017’s Hurricane Irma was made much stronger because of climate change
• A paper published by the American Geophysical Union found that 2017’s Hurricane Maria dropped more rain on Puerto Rico than any storm to hit the island since 1956, a feat due largely to climate change.
• A scientist at the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research found human-caused climate change contributed up to 30% of the rainfall from Hurricane Harvey.
• According to the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research, human activities may have already caused changes to Atlantic hurricanes.
• Anthropogenic warming is likely to increase the intensity of hurricanes by as much as 11%, and warming water temperatures will provide fuel for more intense hurricanes.
• Increased hurricane activity has been linked to higher surface temperatures caused by man made carbon emissions.
• 2020’s Atlantic hurricane season smashed forecasts and went on to become the busiest hurricane season on record with 30 named storms, including a record 12 hurricanes making landfall in the United States.
  • An April 2022 study found that climate change contributed significantly to the severity of the ferocious 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, increasing both rainfall rates and rainfall totals.
  • On October 20th, Hurricane Epsilon became the earliest 26th named storm on record, beating out the previous record of November 22, 2005, by over a month.
  • For the first time since 1971, five named storms churned in the Atlantic Basin at one time. Paulette, Rene, Sally, Teddy and Vicky were each visible in the Atlantic Ocean on September 14, 2020.
  • In October 2020, the chance that any given storm in the Atlantic Ocean would reach major hurricane intensity (Category 3, 4 or 5) was twice as likely as it was in the 1980s, showing just how influential warmer ocean waters can be.
• According to NOAA, there was an 85% chance that the 2024 hurricane season activity would be above normal, with up to 25 named storms and up to 13 hurricanes. Four to seven of those hurricanes were forecast to reach major hurricane strength, making 2024 potentially one of the most active hurricane seasons on record. 
• A 2024 report found that the frequency of stalled storms, tropical systems that remained within a circular area about 250 miles wide for at least 72 hours, have increased by 1.5% per year from 1966 to 2020.​​

Deaths And Damages

• An August 2023 study found that from 1988 to 2019, Atlantic hurricanes caused nearly 20,000 direct and indirect deaths up to a month after the event.
  • 90% of all deaths were in more socially vulnerable county groups, including older adults and Indigenous, Black and Brown communities.
• From 2013-2023, storms and floods have led to the displacement of 5.3 million people in the U.S.
  • From 2012-2023, storms and floods led to the displacement of 609,000 people in the U.S.
• A 2023 report from the National Hurricane Center found that in recent years, rainfall flooding has accounted for nearly 60% of all U.S. deaths from tropical cyclones. 
• A recent study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that hurricanes and tropical cyclones were linked to a 33% higher death rate from related illnesses in the months following the storms.
  • Injury-related deaths spiked 33.4% within the same month of a hurricane hitting.
  • Deaths from infectious and parasitic disease increased 11.4% two months after hurricanes hit.
  • Increases in respiratory disease deaths peaked one month after hurricanes, while surges in cardiovascular disease death rates peaked during the month that the hurricane occurred.
  • Neuropsychiatric death rates also peaked within the month of the hurricane by 9.9%.
• A 2024 report found that insurance premiums rose 21% between May 2022 and May 2023. Researchers believe severe weather largely contributed to the increase. 
• Since 2020, high tides and storms have caused nine homes to fall into the sea in Rodanthe, North Carolina, a small community in the Outer Banks. 
• Hurricane Helene, which made landfall on September 26, 2024 as a Category 4 storm, has already ranked third among the deadliest hurricanes to strike the mainland United States in the past 50 years.
  • It took Helene less than 36 hours to strengthen from a Category 1 hurricane to a violent Category 4 hurricane.
  • Helene is one of the largest storms in the Gulf of Mexico in the last century, with a wind field that could span roughly the distance between Indianapolis and Washington, DC.
  • Helene was the strongest hurricane on record to slam into Florida’s Big Bend.
  • Climate-change induced warming in the Gulf led to record-warm sea surface temperatures that fueled Helene and made the storm more destructive.
    • Sea surface temperatures in the path of Helene were 89 degrees Fahrenheit, two to four degrees above normal. 
    • Helene broke storm surge records across Florida’s Gulf Coast. The Alafia River, which flows into Tampa Bay, peaked at 9.4 feet shortly after midnight, nearly three feet above the record set last year during Hurricane Idalia.
    • Helene brought record-breaking storm surge levels to seven other locations along Florida’s coast. 
    • Rainfall levels from Helene were made about 10% heavier due to human-induced climate change. 
  • Atlanta, Georgia, received 11.12 inches of rain in 48 hours, breaking the city’s all-time record since record-keeping began in 1878.
  • More than 40 trillion gallons of rain drenched the Southeast United States in the last week from Hurricane Helene.
  • As of October 4, 2024, Helene caused at least 130 deaths across six states.
  • One study found that in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, at least 78 people in North Carolina died from the storm’s flooding, more than five times the number of people who drowned on the coast.
    • Researchers believe that a lack of flood evacuation plans in western North Carolina counties was a large factor in the high death toll. 

In 2025 Alone, Hurricanes And Tropical Storms Caused At Least $50.7 Billion In Damages And 156 U.S. Deaths

• Hurricane Chantal in July 2025 caused approximately $500 million in damages and 6 deaths. 
• Hurricane Erin in August 2025 caused more than $3.1 million in damages and 13 deaths. 

In 2024 Alone, Hurricanes And Tropical Storms Caused At Least $124 Billion In Damages And 314 U.S. Deaths

• Hurricane Milton in October 2024 caused $34.3 billion in damages and 32 deaths. 
• Hurricane Helene in September 2024 caused $78.7 billion in damages and 219 deaths. 
• Hurricane Francince in September 2025 caused $1.3 billion in damages. 
• Hurricane Debby in August 2024 caused $2.5 billion in damages. 
• Hurricane Beryl in July 2024 caused $7.2 billion in damages. 

In 2023 Alone, Hurricanes And Tropical Storms Caused At Least $8 Billion In Damages And 7 U.S. Deaths

• Hurricane Idalia in August 2023 caused $3.6 billion in damages and 5 deaths. 
• Typhoon Mawar in May 2023 caused $4.4 billion in damages and 2 deaths. 

In 2022 Alone, Hurricanes And Tropical Storms Caused At Least $118.8 Billion In Damages And 182 U.S. Deaths

• Hurricane Nicole in November 2022 caused $1 billion in damages and 5 deaths.
• Hurricane Ian in September 2022 caused $115.2 billion in damages and 152 deaths.
• Hurricane Fiona in September 2022 caused $2.5 billion in damages and 25 deaths.

In 2021 Alone, Hurricanes And Tropical Storms Caused At Least $86.3 Billion In Damages And 104 U.S. Deaths

• Hurricane Nicholas in September 2021 caused $1.1 billion in damages.
• Hurricane Ida in August 2021 caused $82.4 billion in damages and 96 deaths.
• Tropical Storm Fred in August 2021 caused $1.4 billion in damages and 7 deaths.
• Tropical Storm Elsa in July 2021 caused $1.4 billion in damages and 1 death.

In 2020 Alone, Hurricanes And Tropical Storms Caused At Least $52.8 Billion In Damages And 94 U.S. Deaths

• Tropical Storm Eta in November 2020 caused $1.7 billion in damages and 12 deaths.
• Hurricane Zeta in October 2020 caused $5.1 billion in damages and 6 deaths.
• Hurricane Delta in October 2020 caused $3.4 billion in damages and 5 deaths.
• Hurricane Sally in September 2020 caused $8.5 billion in damages and 5 deaths.
• Hurricane Laura in August 2020 caused $27.2 billion in damages and 42 deaths.
• Hurricane Isaias in August 2020 caused $5.6 billion in damages and 16 deaths.
• Hurricane Hanna in July 2020 caused $1.3 billion in damages.
• Tropical Storm Fay in July 2020 caused an estimated $220 million in damages and 6 deaths.
• Hurricane Paulette in September 2020 caused 1 death
• Tropical Storm Beta in September 2020 caused 1 death.

Impact On Agriculture

• Preliminary estimates from the Department of Agriculture suggested that the back-to-back hurricanes Helene and Milton were expected to incur more than $7 billion in crop insurance payouts.
  • In 2024, Hurricanes Helene and Milton damaged or destroyed 200,000 commercial beehives—a vital resource for pollinating U.S. crops—in Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina.
  • The impacts from Helene and Milton are expected to reduce feed and fertilizer supplies and increase production costs, which could drive up prices for things like chicken and fruit in the months and years to come.
  • Damage from the hurricanes, including downed trees, flooded roads, and congested highways, have disrupted key transport routes throughout the Southeast, while ports across the region suspended operations.

Louisiana

• Hurricane Ida in 2021 caused an estimated $584 million in damage to Louisiana’s agriculture industry.
  • The timber industry saw 168,000 acres of trees affected — worth an estimated $300 million. Most fallen timber isn’t salvageable, less than 2% of timber that fell during the state’s 2020 hurricanes could be sold.
  • Sugarcane saw an estimated $35.4 million hit, representing 7% of the industry’s annual value.
• In Louisiana, crops such as sugar cane, soybeans, citrus and vegetables were destroyed by the storm, and thousands of cattle were displaced due to damaged fences and flooding.
• Strong winds reaching 150 mph toppled pine trees and hardwood ready for harvest and blew sugarcane flat, affecting about 25% of the crop in Louisiana.
• Ida forced the closure of the Port of New Orleans, the Port of Baton Rouge and the Port of South Louisiana, all of which are essential to soy and grain transportation.
  • 61% of U.S. soybean exports and 58% of corn exports depart from facilities along the lower Mississippi River in the New Orleans area.
  • More than 95% of U.S. grain exports travel by barge down the Mississippi River to the U.S. Gulf Coast. About 60% of U.S. grain and soybean exports move through 10 export grain elevators in Louisiana before being shipped around the globe.
• Impacts from Hurricane Ida devastated Louisiana’s fishing industry, which is the most productive fishery in the continental U.S. valued at $2.5 billion:
  • Ida hurt some parts of the industry even worse than Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which cost seafood businesses more than $1 billion.
  • Ida hit Louisiana’s shrimp towns at the start of shrimp season, destroying homes, sinking boats and threatening the livelihoods of local shrimpers.
  • As of September 2021, about 2 million acres of fish have been killed in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, which is expected to affect recreational and commercial fishing for the immediate future in Louisiana.
  • Ida has decimated the fishing industry in places like Chauvin, Louisiana, where about half of the community of 2,8000 people rely on the fishing industry to make a living.
  • The state’s seafood industry was already suffering major losses as demand dropped due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • 20%-30% of the fleet of shrimp boats in the Golden Meadow region of Lafourche parish was wiped out by Ida’s powerful winds.
    • Dozens of shrimp boats were sunk or damaged at a commercial marina off Bay Lanaux.
  • Ida forced oyster beds all along the Gulf Coast to shut down. Oyster production facilities were also impacted, with one plant in Houma having its roof ripped off by Ida only to be hit by Hurricane Nicholas two weeks later.
  • Even shrimp boats that weren’t damaged couldn’t fish for days after Ida due to a lack of power and clean water needed to make ice, which is vital to storing the catch.
    • Docks throughout St. Bernard Parish were without power and ice houses were damaged, hampering shrimpers in the weeks following Ida.
  • Most commercial fishing vessels in Louisiana are not insured, further complicating the industry’s recovery from the storm.

North Carolina

• In Marion, North Carolina, Hurricane Helene caused the Canoe Creek to flood and drown $60,000 of produce from Chue and Tou Lee of Lee’s One Fortune Farm. The farm grows rice (a rarity in the mountains), a wide assortment of Asian vegetables, and peaches.
• In Hendersonville, North Carolina, the flooding of the French Broad River due to Hurricane Helene crested and destroyed all the crops and washed away two greenhouses from the Tierra Fértil Coop, a Hispanic worker-owned farming co-operative.
• In North Carolina, strong winds from Hurricane Isaias in 2020 flattened crops including tobacco, cotton and corn, making it difficult for farmers to harvest.
• Rainfall events following Isaias caused crop lodging and increased instances of disease.
• Initial estimates from the Farm Service Agency pegged the total crop losses in Craven County at approximately $5.6 million. Tobacco suffered an estimated $3.4 million in damages, and corn crops suffered at least $1 million in losses.
• In Jones County, corn crops suffered a 25% loss and 20% of peanut crops were damaged.

Georgia

• In 2024, Hurricane Milton generated an estimated $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion in damages to Florida’s crops and infrastructure.
  • The majority of the losses impacted Florida’s citrus producing counties and damages to the orange groves could last for years. 
• In 2024, Hurricane Helene damaged or destroyed over 107 poultry houses in Georgia. 
• Helene was responsible for damaging at least 70% of older pecan trees and 40% of new trees. Affected counties in Georgia represented about 23% of Georgia’s pecan acreage. 
• In 2023, Hurricane Idalia caused a 20% to 25% loss of pecan trees in Georgia, causing 50% reduction in the expected pecan harvest. 
• Hurricane Sally in 2020 hammered peanut fields in western Georgia with between 5 to 12 inches of rain, while the Southeast corner of the state saw an average of 5 to 7.5 inches.

Florida

• In 2024, Hurricane Helene was estimated to have caused between $500 million and $800 million in crop and farm infrastructure losses across Florida.
  • An estimated one in seven broiler houses were damaged or destroyed,  hindering poultry production capacity. Reports of hurricane-contaminated feed and water supplies were also expected to threaten local poultry farms.
  • Intense flooding from Helene damaged several strawberry fields in Florida.
  • Helene was responsible for at least $15 million in damages to dairy farm operations. Reported power outages and damages to housing and cooling systems were also responsible for causing significant stress to cows and decreasing milk production. 
• During the 2022-23 growing season, Florida’s citrus harvest decreased 60% and produced just 18.1 million boxes, the smallest harvest in almost a century. The decline was driven largely by the compounding impacts of pathogens and hurricanes. 
• As of September 2023, Hurricane Idalia caused between $78 million and $371 million in agricultural losses.
  • According to the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, predicted losses for livestock were between $30.1 million and $123.4 million, estimates losses for field and row crop were between $30.7 million and $93.6 million, and greenhouse and nursery products accounted for between $4.7 million and $68.8 million.
• Combined, Hurricanes Idalia and Debby caused more than $700 million in losses to the Florida Gulf’s crops, livestock and agricultural infrastructure.
  • $113 million to $147 million of these losses included damage to row crops such as peanuts, hay and sugarcane.
  • The hurricanes especially impacted Florida’s citrus industry which had already faced damage from diseases and previous storms. Additional losses were expected to further inflate costs for goods like orange juice.
• Across Florida, Hurricane Ian trampled through about 4 million acres of farmland, according to the latest figures from the Agriculture Department for the affected counties.
• According to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Hurricane Ian caused as much as $1.8 billion in damages to Florida agriculture.
  • The biggest losses came from citrus which had damages between $416 million and $675 million.
  • Florida also lost an estimated $153.7 million to $230.5 million, or around 10% to 15% of non-citrus fruits and vegetables. 
• Hurricane Ian caused significant damage to Florida’s agriculture.
  • Many of Florida’s top crops, like strawberries and cucumbers, rely heavily on bees for pollination, and Hurricane Ian took a heavy toll on honeybee colonies.
  • Some growers suffered large losses of citrus either blown off trees or still on branches that fell to the ground. 
  • Farmers as far north as St. Augustine are facing flooded vegetable fields.
• Crops in Escambia County sustained heavy damage from wind and flooding from Hurricane Sally. Crops impacted included corn, cotton, and peanuts.
  • Hurricane Sally hit the state just as farmers in the Florida Panhandle were wrapping corn harvest, beginning peanut harvest, and a few weeks away from cotton harvest.
• Crop damages for the region after Sally were a minimum value of $27 million.
• Sally impacted 100,000 acres of peanuts, 100,000 acres of cotton and 100,000 acres of hay across Florida.
  • About 10,000 acres of corn and 4,000 acres encompassing horse farms, seafood, aquaculture, pecans, walnuts and timber were also hit hard by the storm.
• Economists at the University of Florida predicted the combined losses of crops, livestock and aquaculture across from Sally to cost between $55 million and $100 million.
• Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried said most farms in the area would see “almost 100% losses” on their crops following Sally.
• Six days after the storm hit, soil in the Panhandle and Big Bend had not dried. Cotton farmers were estimated to see 100% losses and peanut farmers were bracing for their machines to not be able to harvest most of their crop,
• Escambia County farmers expected to lose about half of their 2020 harvest due to the storm, and at least 40 local farmers saw damages from Sally that state officials estimated reached into the millions.
  • The Florida Farm Bureau forecasted cotton crop damages of between $300 and $700 per acre for the more than 50,000 acres owned and maintained by those 40 Escambia County farmers.
• Flooding from Tropical Storm Eta in 2020 hammered South Florida’s vegetable farmers in the middle of harvesting season just weeks before Thanksgiving.
  • The storm hit as farms were harvesting vegetable crops including sweet corn, green beans, lettuce, cabbage, radishes.
• Eta caused an estimated $85 to $320 million in damage to Florida’s crops.
  • The damage resulted in a jump in commodity prices for vegetables such as green beans, tomatoes and squash.
  • Wind damaged farm infrastructures and crops and caused premature fruit drop.
• In the Everglades Agricultural Area of the state, farmers said vegetable harvests suffered, or never happened in the first place due to a wet October followed by Tropical Storm Eta.
• Wet conditions after weeks of rain led farmers delaying planting and harvesting, with some nearly a month behind where they normally would be.
• Sugar mills in Clewiston, Florida had to briefly shut down due to the weather.
• Farmers in western Palm Beach County delayed planting of vegetable crops, included cabbages, and halted sugar cane harvesting due to wet conditions.
• In December 2020, vegetable farmers in the southern part of the state were replanting crops lost to flooding during hurricane season.

Puerto Rico

• In 2022, Hurricane Fiona destroyed 90% of crops in Puerto Rico, decimating fields of plantains, bananas, and other crops that in total were worth at least $159 million. 

California 

• California is responsible for producing approximately 80% of the world’s supply of almonds. In 2023, Hurricane Hilary delayed almond harvesting and excess rain caused ruined crops. 
• Hurricane Hilary was responsible for a loss of 20% to 50% of California’s tomato and table grape crops. 

Threats To Critical Infrastructure

• Waters made warmer by climate change fuel stronger hurricane winds. Even small increases in hurricane wind speeds can dramatically increase the resulting damage.
• Hurricane Helene killed 232 people and caused $55 billion in damages, while Hurricane Milton killed 25 people and caused $60 billion in damages. Hurricane Milton was the most expensive single climate disaster of 2024. 
• In 2024, Hurricanes Helene and Milton disrupted the United States Postal Service’s ability to deliver mail. 
• Back-to-back Hurricanes Helene and Milton swept through the Southeast and destroyed many animal shelters and rescues.
  • The fallout has exacerbated overcrowding in shelters nationwide, making many facilities busier than they have been in years. 

Hurricanes And Tropical Storms Threaten Transportation Infrastructure 

• Transportation systems in coastal areas prone to tropical cyclones are vulnerable to significant risks. For example, about one-third of shipping ports globally are located in areas at risk from tropical cyclones. 
• Sea level rise also primes coastal areas for higher storm surges. These surges are extremely powerful and can sweep out the foundations from roads, railroads, bridges, and other infrastructure. Storm surge can also compound hurricane risks by flooding and blocking essential evacuation routes. 
• Airport runways in major cities are also at risk of closures, delays, and damage due to storm surges and coastal flooding. 
• Protecting global ports against rising seas and stronger storm surges could cost billions of dollars annually.

Hurricanes And Tropical Storms Threaten Critical Infrastructure, Putting Communities At Risk Of Toxic Spills

• Around 60% of all non federal Superfund sites are located in areas that may be impacted by climate change fuelled flooding, storm surge, wildfires, or sea level rise.
• By 2029, chronic service disruptions could cost water-reliant businesses $111 billion and American households a cumulative $378 million in healthcare costs.
• Hurricane Helene left behind tons of soil, sediment, and toxic sludge in North Carolina farms.
  • The French Broad River inundated Marshall’s downtown with toxic sludge and debris. The community called for personal protective gear—gloves, goggles, boots, and respirators—so they could clean their town.
• After Hurricane Idalia, at least 26,000 gallons of wastewater spills, mostly raw sewage, were reported to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
  • ​​Wastewater, especially when it’s untreated sewage, can contain red tide-fueling nitrogen and other contaminants that can help algal blooms thrive. High volumes of sewage or gasoline dumps can also kill fish and other marine life. 
• After Hurricane Ian, 22% of private well samples in Seminole County were reported contaminated with coliform or E-coli bacteria.
• Hurricane Ian dumped at least 17 million gallons of dirty wastewater into Manatee County waterways. The Tampa area waters saw more than 300,000 gallons of wastewater spills during Ian.

Threats To The Electrical Grid

• A report by Climate Central found that from 2000 to 2023, about 80% of all major U.S. power outages reported were attributed to weather-related events.
  • 14% were caused by tropical storms and hurricanes.
  • Although tropical storms accounted for a smaller percentage of weather-related outages, they account for most of the longest-lasting outages through 2022.
• A 2024 study projected that increasingly stronger and wetter storms, driven by climate change, are expected to make storm landfall more frequent and further inland and cause negative impacts on grid reliability.
  • The study found that the average person in the metropolitan areas of Boston, Houston and New Orleans could see expected outage events increase by more than 70% per decade. In Tampa, the average person could see an increase of 89% and in Miami, 119%. 
• Electrical power distribution systems are extremely vulnerable to severe weather and climate events such as hurricanes and tropical storms.
  • Transmission lines are designed within limits of how much power they can move while maintaining safe operating conditions relative to air temperatures.
• Hurricanes are the leading cause of electricity outages, causing nine in ten major outages across the U.S. The nation’s grid is not prepared to handle such disasters, which will likely worsen as the climate changes.
  • In 2024, Hurricane Helene caused over 6 million customers to lose power across the Southeast U.S. during the storm’s peak. 
  • In 2024, Hurricane Milton left nearly 71% of Tampa Electric’s customers without electricity, affecting a total of 3.4 million customers.   
  • In 2017, Hurricane Maria left Puerto Rico’s grid vulnerable and sensitive to extreme weather. Over a million customers in Puerto Rico have experienced intermittent power outages in the five years after Hurricane Maria. 
  • In 2012, Hurricane Sandy left over 8.5 million customers in the U.S. without power and caused over $7 billion in economic loss and 225 fatalities.
  • Sandy was one of the most devastating storms to impact Connecticut’s overhead electric distribution network, resulting in over 15,000 outage locations that affected more than 500,000 customers.
  • The damage caused to energy infrastructure was so significant that even months after the storm, power was yet to be restored to all areas of New York and New Jersey.
• The majority of the nation’s energy grid is aging. Some components are over a century old and others, including 70% of transportation and distribution lines, are well into the second half of their lifespans.
• The distribution system accounts for 92% of all electric service interruptions, a result of aging infrastructure, severe weather events, and vandalism.
• Transmission and distribution problems, such as those caused by extreme weather, result in power outages at an estimated annual cost of between $28 to $169 to U.S. households.
• The cost of outages grew from $505,000 in 2010 to $740,000 in 2016, which equals $8,851 per minute that the electricity grid is malfunctioning.

How Infrastructure Investments Can Help

Electrical Grid Infrastructure

• Implementing storm hardening measures enables the electric grid to better withstand the effects of hurricanes. Examples of such measures include elevating facilities to protect from flooding and constructing flood walls to protect against storm surges. Storm-proofing as little as 1% of power lines in an electricity grid can decrease the chance of hurricane-induced blackouts by between fivefold and 20-fold.
  • Case Study – New York: After Hurricane Sandy, New York-based utility Con Edison Inc. invested $1 billion in hardening measures including raising critical equipment, burying overhead lines and installing flood barriers and submersible equipment.
  • Case Study – Florida: Intense hurricane seasons in 2004 and 2005 prompted Florida Power & Light to install smart meters and other grid modernization technology, underground vulnerable power lines and replace some wooden utility poles with more-durable concrete poles. Florida’s Public Service Commissions reviewed the utilities’ response and recovery to the four hurricanes that affected Florida during 2016-2017 and found that ‘the length of outages was reduced markedly from the 2004-2005 storm season.’ It determined that the state’s aggressive storm hardening programs are working.
  • Electrical power distribution systems are extremely vulnerable to severe weather and climate events such as hurricanes and tropical storms.
    • High winds during storms and hurricanes can lead to faults and damage to overhead transmission and distribution lines, either by debris being blown against the lines or a tower collapse in extremely high winds.
    • Lightning strikes on or near overhead conductors can cause short-circuit faults, which trigger the electrical protection and the disconnection of the lines. The voltage surge caused by the strike may be transferred along the line and cause damage to equipment, such as transformer wings.
  • Hurricanes are the leading cause of electricity outages, causing nine in ten major outages across the U.S. The nation’s grid is not prepared to handle such disasters, which will likely worsen as the climate changes.
    • In August 2020, Hurricane Isaias caused power outages for more than 2 million customers across the Northeast. The same month, Hurricane Laura left 400,000 customers without power and 7 people died from carbon monoxide inhaled from improper usage of generators.
  • Rain and floods pose a danger to substation equipment, such as switchgear and control cubicles.
    • 70% of substations in the Southern U.S. are vulnerable to flooding and their equipment is rapidly aging.

Green Infrastructure

• Reducing the volume of stormwater runoff via green infrastructure techniques is a cost-effective way to manage the frequency and severity of localized urban flooding.
• Natural infrastructure provides an estimated $23.2 billion in storm protection services annually.
• Natural infrastructure solutions could help avert more than 45% of the climate risk in the Gulf of Mexico over a 20-year period, saving the region over $50 billion in flood damages.
• In cities with combined sewer systems, green infrastructure controls can cost less than conventional controls and green-gray approaches can reduce public expenditures on stormwater infrastructure.
• Integrating green infrastructure into the site design can result in net cost savings by decreasing the amount of required below-ground drainage infrastructure and other stormwater management related facilities.

Extreme Cold And Winter Storms

Big Picture

Winter storms can range from normal snow over a few hours to a blizzard with blinding, wind-driven snow that lasts for several days. Many winter storms bring dangerously low temperatures and sometimes, strong winds, icing, sleet, and freezing rain. In the long term, instances of extreme heat areexpected to outnumber and outweigh instances of extreme cold, and even if extreme cold events don’t reach record low temperatures, they can still be extremely disruptive to infrastructure and lifestyles if the cold weather is far from what is normally expected in a given location and time of year.

Exposure to cold temperatures cancause serious or life-threatening health problems, such as hypothermia and frostbite. Children, the elderly, low-income people and unhoused people are particularlyat risk from the health impacts of extreme cold. The ability to feel temperature changesdecreases with age, making older people more susceptible to health problems caused by cold.

Transitioning to clean energy and improving energy efficiency is essential in preventing winter weather from knocking out heat, power, and communication, sometimes for days at a time. Home weatherization and insulation can help combat extreme cold, but low-income families often lack the means to get these resources.

Link To Climate Change

• Direct scientific observations and computer simulations show that warming in the Arctic, caused by human-made climate change, is a key driver of periodic extreme cold snaps.
• A 2015 study found that severe winters over North America are related to anomalous warmth in the East Siberian–Chukchi Sea region.
  • Regional warming over the Arctic Ocean is accompanied by the development of an anomalous anticyclone and the downstream development of a mid-latitude trough.
  • The resulting northerly flow of cold air provides favorable conditions for severe winters in North America.
• A 2018 study found that severe winter weather in the United States is significantly related to anomalies in pan-Arctic geopotential heights and temperatures.
  • When the Arctic warming trend is greatest and extends into the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere, severe winter weather, including both cold spells and heavy snows, becomes more frequent in the eastern United States.
• Rising temperatures and reduced sea ice in the Arctic are behind some of the worst recent mid-latitude cold waves in North America and Eurasia.
• Extreme cold snaps have been linked to a stretching of the polar vortex in the stratosphere which is driven by human-caused climate change.
  • The polar vortex is a large area of low pressure and cold air around the Earth’s North Pole.
    • The polar jet stream is sustained by a temperature difference between the warmer mid-latitudes and the polar region, and the Earth’s rotation.
    • When the temperature difference across the jet stream is large, it tends to keep the polar vortex stable. But when the difference is small, the jet stream is typically weaker and more susceptible to twisting and curving.
  • A 2021 study found that heating in the Arctic ultimately disturbed the circular pattern of winds known as the polar vortex, leading to extreme cold such as winter storm Uri in February 2021.
  • Polar vortex stretching has become more common over the last 40 years, demonstrating how Arctic warming may be driving winter extremes in the U.S., producing intense cold spells in a warming climate.
    • The polar vortex is a semi-permanent pool of cold air over the poles about 10 to 30 miles high. When the vortex is stretched out, shifts in the jet stream at lower altitudes can push cold surface air into the mid-latitudes, including the U.S.
• A 2024 report found that winter’s longest cold streaks have gotten shorter since 1970 in 98% of 240 U.S. locations analyzed.
  • Cold streaks shrunk by six days on average across 240 locations from 1970 to 2023.
• Ice coverage of the Great Lakes is decreasing due to climate change. According to a report from Climate Central, despite year-to-year variability, long-term records show a 25% decrease in basin-wide ice cover as well as a trend toward fewer frozen days across the Great Lakes since 1973. 

Death And Damages

In 2024, Freeze Events And Winter Storms Caused$3.6 Billion In Damages And 61 U.S. Deaths:

• From January 12 to January 14, 2024, an arctic front moved across Western Washington and Oregon dropping temperatures below freezing.
  • The storm brought freezing rain and impacted areas along the coast and the Willamette Valley northward into southwest Washington. Numerous locations including Springfield and the Portland metro area were affected by the icing and strong winds, which caused significant tree damage and power outages. 
  • Homes, businesses, vehicles and other infrastructure were damaged.
• From January 14 to January 18, 2024, several central and southern states including Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Texas, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee and Georgia were hit by a cold air mass.
  • The long-duration cold wave produced sleet and freezing rain accumulations into the deep south, across much of Mississippi. High winds also pushed wind chills below zero for many states causing dozens of fatalities, many in Tennessee. 
  • Homes, vehicles and businesses were damaged by the high winds and frozen precipitation.

In 2023 Alone, Freeze Events And Winter Storms Caused At Least $1.8 Billion In Damages And 1 U.S. Deaths:

• From February 2 through February 5, 2023, A strong winter storm produced snow, high winds and bitter cold across numerous Northeastern states.
  • High winds caused widespread power outages in Massachusetts while Mount Washington, New Hampshire observed a wind chill temperature of -108 degrees Fahrenheit. This was one of the coldest wind chill temperatures ever recorded in the United States. 

In 2022 Alone, Freeze Events And Winter Storms Caused At Least $8.6 Billion In Damages And 87 U.S. Deaths:

• From December 20 through December 26, 2022, Winter Storm Elliott led to a widespread cold outbreak that engulfed the entire eastern two-thirds of the country, leading to the deaths of 87 people.
  • The storm intensified into a bomb cyclone, a powerful, rapidly intensifying storm associated with a sudden and significant drop in atmospheric pressure by at least 24 millibars in 24 hours, bringing high winds, blizzard conditions, and flooding. 
  • Across the country, over 6.3 million customers lost power at one point or another. At the storms’ peak on Christmas, an estimated 1.7 million businesses and homes faced power outages.

In 2021 Alone, Freeze Events And Winter Storms Caused At Least $180 Billion In Damages And 700 U.S. Deaths:

• In February 2021, Winter Storm Uri caused over $180 billion in damages to Texas businesses, landowners and families.
  • More than 4.5 million homes and businesses lost power during Winter Storm Uri because of the lack of preparation to modernize critical infrastructure.
  • The 2021 electricity blackouts in Texas left more than 700 dead and millions without drinking water, even after the lights came back on.
    • Experts and community groups say that many marginalized communities were the first to be hit with power outages and the last to be reconnected.
  • By February 16th, 2021, 73% of the Lower 48 states was covered by snow, the most widespread snow cover of the contiguous United States in 17 years.

Threats To Critical Infrastructure

• One of the main concerns is that winter weather can knock out heat, power, and communication, sometimes for days at a time.
  • When power fails and people resort to space heaters and fireplaces to stay warm, the risk of household fires increases, as well as the risk of deadly carbon monoxide poisoning.
• Lack of power can make water stop flowing through systems with aged pipes. Aged pipes can also freeze and result in a number of burst pipes.
• A Department of Homeland Security analysis found that the Transportation and Energy Sectors are most likely to experience the greatest infrastructure impacts from severe winter storms.

Threats To Transportation Infrastructure

• Lower-income families may not be able to stock up on essentials ahead of the storm, have access to transportation in the event of an emergency or afford precautions like renters or flood insurance, leaving them vulnerable when disaster strikes.
• During winter storms, public transportation can shut down, those without their own cars are left out in the cold.

Threats To The Electrical Grid

• The American Society of Civil Engineers gave the United States’ energy infrastructure a C- grade in 2021. According to the ASCE’s report card: “The majority of the nation’s grid is aging, with some components over a century old — far past their 50-year life expectancy — and others, including 70% of T&D lines, are well into the second half of their lifespans.”
  • Weather-related outages and aging energy infrastructure were estimated to have cost $28 to $169 annually.
• A report by Climate Central found that between 2000 and 2021, about 83% of reported major outages in the U.S. were attributed to weather-related events.
  • 22% were caused by winter weather, including snow, ice, and freezing rain.
• Cold waves, heavy snow and the accumulation of ice can cause overhead power lines and towers to fail.
  • Overloading of conductors and ground wires by heavy icing, combined with wind forces, can cause them to break and even lead to tower collapse.
• Home weatherization and insulation can help combat extreme cold, but low-income families often lack the means to get these resources.
• Just as electricity usage spikes during periods of extreme heat, demand for energy skyrockets during cold spells and winter storms.
  • During extreme cold temperatures, the continuous use of heat pumps, emergency heat systems and electric space heaters cause the demand for energy to increase substantially.
• When power fails and people resort to space heaters and fireplaces to stay warm, the risk of household fires increases, as well as the risk of deadly carbon monoxide poisoning.
• 2022: Winter Storm Landon
  • One year after Winter Storm Uri, Winter Storm Landon caused the worst icing in Texas state history. Winter Storm Landon delivered feet of snow and damaging ice through more than a dozen states in early February 2022.
  • At the peak of the storm, more than 330,000 homes and businesses lost power in the storm’s wake, from Pennsylvania to Texas.
• 2021: Winter Storm Uri
  • The storm caused the deaths of as many as 700 people and an estimated $86 billion to $129 billion in economic damage.
  • At its peak, Winter Storm Uri led to widespread blackouts leaving 4.5 million homes and businesses without power in Texas. About 70% of Texans lost power, and about 50% had disruptions in water service.
    • Winter Storm Uri resulted in record amounts of snow in Texas, impacting all 254 counties. All sources of electricity struggled during the frigid temperatures and power outages led to a decrease in natural gas production.
    • In Texas, experts estimate that nearly $50 billion worth of electricity was consumed during the one-week storm; 250 times the normal cost.
    • Texas’s energy grid is mostly disconnected from the rest of the country, and when power infrastructure failed as it did during Winter Storm Uri, Texas couldn’t borrow power from other states. The state has the same risk during extreme heat waves.
    • Line-loss cost Harris County half a million dollars, a 2,800% increase from 2020. In Tarrant County, line-loss cost more than $300,000, representing an increase of almost 6,000%.
  • Mississippi’s power grid system broke down during the February winter storms, leaving more than 50,000 people without power for weeks.
  • 2021’s storms cost Entergy $2 billion, which will eventually be passed down to ratepayers.
• A cold snap in 2011 caused widespread power outages in the south central United States, leading to a report from FERC that recommended steps to protect power generating stations from extreme weather.
• A 2010 report found that winter weather is one of the most common problems for utilities in Colorado.

How Infrastructure Investments Can Help

Electrical Grid Infrastructure

• Blackouts in Texas in 2021 showed the impact of failing to prepare our infrastructure for extreme weather:
  • More than 4.5 million homes and businesses lost power during Winter Storm Uri because of the lack of preparation to modernize critical infrastructure.
  • Winter Storm Uri caused over $180 billion in damages to Texas businesses, landowners and families.
  • According to Dan Woodfin, a senior director at ERCOT, the main reasons for the outages are frozen instruments at natural gas, coal, and nuclear facilities, as well as limited supplies of natural gas.
  • A cold snap in 2011 caused widespread power outages in the south central United States, leading to a report from FERC that recommended steps to protect power generating stations from extreme weather.
• Developing a resilient energy infrastructure includes ensuring that energy is produced by diverse sources.
• Infrastructure hardening helps communities that are vulnerable to extreme cold and winter storms.
  • Hardened high-voltage wires, meaning burying the lines (where practical), reinforced transmission poles, or poles with stronger materials (i.e., concrete), ensures that high winds would not disrupt electricity transmission and distribution.
  • Winterized power generation facilities can withstand extended periods of below-freezing temperatures.
• A recent study shows that electricity blackouts can be avoided across the nation by switching to 100% clean and renewable energy, such as solar, wind and water.
  • The study showed that the U.S. can meet its energy demands with renewables every 30 seconds across the nation with no blackouts, even with a more populated nation in 2050 and 2051.
  • Researchers found that a switch to renewables would also lower energy demands, reduce consumer costs, create millions of new jobs and improve people’s health.
    • The study found that transitioning to a clean energy grid could create some 4.7 million more permanent jobs than those lost from the fossil fuel industry.
  • Under a grid powered by renewables, no blackouts occur, even during winter in Texas.
• The 2022 IPCC report concluded that the prices of solar and wind energy, and electric vehicle batteries, have dropped significantly since 2010 and it may now be “more expensive” in some cases to maintain highly polluting energy systems than to switch to clean sources.

Building Infrastructure Upgrades

• Home weatherization and insulation can help combat extreme cold, but low-income families often lack the means to get these resources.

Upgrades To Water Infrastructure

• A 2018 Environmental Protection Agency study found that the nation’s drinking water infrastructure needs $472.6 billion in investments through 2038.
  • Replacing aging pipes can prevent pipes from bursting and water system shutdowns during extreme cold events and winter storms.
  • Installing generators to keep water pumping and flowing to customers and help prevent pipes from freezing and breaking when the power goes out.

Drought & Extreme Heat

Big Picture

97% of scientists agree that human-caused emissions are warming the planet. Those effects can already be seen directly through extreme heat and drought affecting parts of the United States. Hotter, drier summers can have many disastrous consequences for our economy, including agricultural losses, loss of income for outdoor workers, and increased energy costs.

Transitioning to clean energy and improving energy efficiency is critical to lowering the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for driving up temperatures. At the same time,smart infrastructure and building practices can help us better manage water resources and help people stay cool during hot summer months while using less energy. The United Nations found that countries could save billions of dollars and thousands of lives by investing in tools to prepare for drought rather than waiting to respond once it strikes.

Link To Climate Change

• The megadrought that has gripped the southwestern U.S. for the past 22 years is the worst in at least 1,200 years. Human-caused climate change is a major reason for the current drought’s severity.
• Thanks to climate change, the U.S. is experiencing periods of abnormally hot weather at least three times more often than in the 1960s.
• Climate change makes heat waves hotter, longer, and more frequent – directly threatening our health, safety, and economic security. 
• A July 2025 study found that a megadrought that has been impacting the American Southwest for nearly 25 years may continue through the end of the century. 
  • Researchers found that the megadrought is a result of a pattern of warming Pacific Ocean temperatures that have been “stuck” due to global warming. As human-induced global warming continues, the drought is expected to continue through 2050 and possibly 2100 and beyond. 
• A June 2025 report from Climate Central found that human-induced climate change is driving extreme summer heat days.
  • The study found that 88% of major U.S. cities have experienced more frequent extreme heat days since 1970.
    • On average, these cities experience six extremely hot summer days compared to zero days during the 1970s.
  • Climate Central also found that the average summer minimum nighttime temperatures have warmed by 3.1 degrees Fahrenheit on average in U.S. cities. 
• Researchers found evaporation played a bigger role than a lack of rain in the severity of droughts in the American West from 2020 to 2022.
  • Researchers predict that anthropogenic climate change will continue to make droughts longer, cover wider areas, and become more severe. 
• From July 2023 to June 2024, each month was the hottest on record globally. 
• From June 16 to June 24, 2024, nearly 5 billion people, or 60% of the world population, suffered from extreme heat that was made at least three times more likely by climate change. 
• A June 2024 report found that the frequency of hot summer day-night events has increased in 202 U.S. cities since the 1970s due to human-caused carbon pollution.
  • Since 1970, summer nights have warmed in 230 U.S. locations by 3°F on average.
  • Due to human-caused climate change, 2.4 billion people experienced an average of at least 2 additional weeks per year where nighttime temperatures exceeded 25°C.
• A February 2025 report from Climate Central found that springtime in the United States had warmed on average by 2.4 degrees Fahrenheit and that unusually warm spring days are occurring more often.
  • 97% of the U.S. cities studied have experienced warming during the meteorological spring season of March to May. 
  • The report found that four out of five U.S. cities experience at least one more week of warmer-than-normal spring days today than in the 1970s. 
  • Cities in the Southern tier of the country have experienced the highest degree of spring warming. 
  • The study also warned that spring warming could prolong seasonal allergies, worsen wildfire risk, and limit snow-fed water supplies. 
• July 2024 was reported to be the second-warmest July on record globally.
• As of August 2024, 15 national temperature records had been broken as extreme weather events grew more frequent. 
• A 2024 report found that atmospheric concentrations of Earth’s major greenhouse gasses—carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide—all increased to record-high levels.
  • The annual global average carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere in 2023 was 50% greater than pre-industrial levels.
  • The growth of CO2 concentrations from 2022 to 2023 was the fourth highest since the 1960s.
• The 2021 heat dome that engulfed the Pacific Northwestern U.S. would have been at least 150 times rarer and several degrees cooler without climate change.
  • Researchers estimate that another 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees F) of warming could turn something like the Pacific Northwest’s freak heat dome into a once-in-a-decade affair.
• A 2024 EPA report found that heat waves are occurring more frequently in major cities across the United States.
  • The number of annual heat waves has increased from two heat waves per year during the 1960s to six per year during the 2010s and 2020s. 
  • In recent years, the average heat wave in major U.S. urban areas has been about four days long. This is about a day longer than the average heat wave in the 1960s
  • The average heat wave season across the 50 cities in this indicator is about 46 days longer now than it was in the 1960s.
  • Heat waves have become more intense over time. During the 1960s, the average heat wave across the 50 cities reported was 2.0°F above the local 85th percentile threshold. During the 2020s, the average heat wave has been 2.5°F above the local threshold.
• According to a 2024 report from UNICEF, nearly half a billion children live in places around the world where there are at least twice the number of days that are 95 degrees or hotter than in the 1960s.
• Climate change is warming cities at a faster rate. According to a July 2024 report, out of 65 major U.S. cities, the total population living in census block groups with an Urban Heat Island index of 8°F or higher is nearly 34 million — or 68% of the 50 million people included in this analysis.
  • Six cities had at least 1 million people living in neighborhoods that felt at least 8°F more heat because of the local built environment.
  • According to the report, urban heat burden is unequally shared, and linked to a history of racially biased housing policy. Analysis from Columbia University shows that historically redlined areas currently experience hotter summers than non-redlined areas in 150 (84%) of 179 major U.S. cities.
• A 2022 Citi and Gallup analysis found that people who experienced extreme heat days also reported a decrease in their sense of well-being around the same time.
  • The global population experienced three times as many extreme heat days in 2020 than in 2008, and well-being decreased globally by 6.5% in that time as well.
  • Researchers also found that because the climate crisis is pushing temperatures even hotter, global well-being could decrease by another 17% by the end of this decade.
  • Researchers found that the impact on well-being is more significant among older generations than young, and among those living in countries with developing economies – where people are less equipped to handle the economic toll of the climate crisis.
  • The report also noted people living in the southernmost regions of many nations are at increasing risk of sweltering temperatures and its associated decline in well-being, including residents along the US Gulf Coast.
  • Researchers also linked warming temperatures and related disasters like drought to major conflicts and food insecurity – both of which can propel people from poorer and hotter countries to migrate to wealthier nations in cooler climates.
• A 2022 analysis by the First Street Foundation found that an “extreme heat belt” will emerge in large parts of the country by 2053.
  • Researchers found the local hottest seven days of any particular area are expected to become the hottest 18 days over the next 30 years.
  • Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, and Florida are expected to see the largest increase in dangerous temperatures.
  • By 2053, 1,023 counties could experience heat index temperatures above 125 degrees, an area home to more than 107 million that covers a quarter of U.S. land area.
• A 2022 analysis by E&E News found that extreme heat will affect communities where a majority of the residents are a racial or ethnic minority, the hardest across the continental United States.
  • ZIP codes where a majority of the residents are a racial or ethnic minority will experience an average of 27.5 days in 2023 when the heat index exceeds 100 degrees Fahrenheit, while the average ZIP code will only experience 17 days.
    • ZIP codes where more than 90% of the residents are white will experience an average of 10.5 extreme-heat days.
  • In 2053, minority-majority ZIP codes will experience an average of 43 days of extreme heat.
    • ZIP codes that are more than 90% white will experience 19.5 days of extreme heat.
• A 2022 report from the UN’s IPCC panel found between 2010 and 2020, droughts, floods and storms killed 15 times as many people in highly vulnerable countries, particularly in Africa — which is responsible for less than 3% of global emissions — than in the wealthiest countries.
  • If we reach 2 degrees Celsius of warming, between 800 million and 3 billion people globally could face chronic water scarcity because of drought, including more than one-third of the population in southern Europe.
  • Crop yields and fish harvests in many places could start declining.
• A 2021 report from the UN’s IPCC panel warned that extreme heat waves now occur five times as often compared to before, and they will hit 14 times as often if warming reaches 2 degrees C.
• A 2021 report from the UN’s IPCC panel warned that droughts that used to occur once every 10 years now occur 70% more frequently because of climate change.
• The 2021 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report concluded ​extreme heat waves now occur five times as often compared to before, and they will hit 14 times as often if warming reaches 2 degrees and droughts that used to occur once every 10 years now occur 70% more frequently. The report also concluded that in order to limit warming to 1.5°C, carbon pollution must be cut by half in the next 10 years and carbon pollution must be reduced to zero by 2050.
• Climate change’s hotter temperatures and society’s diversion of water have been shrinking the world’s lakes by 5.7 trillion gallons a year.
• Climate change is causing warmer spring days.
  • In the U.S., 300 million people — about 89% of the population — experienced at least one unusually warm spring day made at least two times more likely by climate change. 
  • Nearly half of the 240 U.S. cities analyzed had five or more unusually warm spring days made at least two times more likely by climate change.
  • The U.S. cities with the most unusually warm spring days boosted by climate change included San Juan, Puerto Rico (91 days); Sarasota, Fla. (39 days); West Palm Beach, Fla. (35 days); Honolulu, Hawaii (32 days); and Miami, Fla. (31 days). 
  • Spring warming has been found to lead to longer allergy seasons, supply warm rising air during the most active tornado months, and cause earlier snowmelt tied to rising flood risk and reduced water supply.

2025 Season

• In June 2025, a round of extreme heat impacted more than 20 million people in the Western United States. The heat wave was made two to five times more likely due to human-caused climate change. 
• April 2025 was reported as the world’s second-hottest April on record.
  • April 2025 was 2.20°F (1.22°C) above the 20th-century baseline.
• In February, 2025, about 42.4% of the contiguous United States experienced drought conditions. Drought conditions expanded or intensified across the Southwest including parts of south-central Texas and in portions of the Carolinas. 
• January 2025 was the hottest January ever recorded globally. It marked the 18th month in the past 19 months that saw global average surface air temperatures more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
  • The average temperature in January was 13.23 degrees celsius which was 0.79 degrees above the 1991 to 2020 average for January and 1.75 degrees celsius above industrial level. 

2024 Season

• 2024 was the warmest year on record and was likely the first calendar year where global mean temperatures exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius above the 1850 to 1900 average. 
• In 2024, researchers found that globally, people suffered from an average of 41 extra days of dangerous heat due to human-caused climate change. 
• In 2024, winter was the fastest-warming season for the majority (76%) of reported U.S. cities. 
• In November 2024, New Jersey declared a drought warning in the midst of record-low rainfall and the driest conditions the region has seen in the past 120 years.
  • The warning came after a drought watch that was issued in October 2024, when the state experienced the driest two-month period on record. 
  • The drought caused diminished streamflow, reservoir and groundwater levels, and worsened wildfire conditions. 
• In October 2024, the average temperature of the contiguous United States was 50.9 degrees Fahrenheit, approximately 4.9 degrees above average making October the second warmest in the 130-year record. 
• August 2024 was the 15th month in a row to set a new monthly record for heat on Earth.
• According to Copernicus, summer 2024 was the hottest on record globally. 2024 saw intense heat waves that would have been virtually impossible without climate change, shattered daily temperature records, and left millions across the U.S. to deal with dangerously high temperatures.
  • The summer of 2024 was 2.25 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than the average summer between 1951 and 1980. 
  • Between June 1 and August 31, 6,871 highest daily maximum temperature records were broken, and 3,298 records were tied in the U.S. alone.
• On July 21 and 22, 2024, Earth saw its warmest two days on record globally since the 1940s.
  • July 21, more than five billion people worldwide were exposed to high temperatures that were made at least two times more likely due to climate change. 
  • July 22 was recorded as the world’s hottest day in history.
• As of August 2024, 99% of the country’s population had been affected by at least one extreme weather alert. 
• From June 18 to June 20, 2024, over 25 million people in the eastern half of the U.S. experienced extreme heat made at least four times more likely because of human-caused climate change.
  • Record-level high temperatures of 94°F to 99°F were forecasted in major metropolitan areas, including Indianapolis, Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., New York City, and Boston.
  • This heat, combined with elevated humidity, resulted in heat index values reaching 105°F for states including Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
• In July 2024, Earth saw its hottest two days in thousands of years,
  • The daily global average temperature hit 17.09°C (62.76°F) on July 21 and 17.15°C (62.87°F) on July 22nd. The previous highest temperature recorded was 17.08°C (62.74) on July 6, 2023. 
• 2024 was the hottest summer on record for Phoenix, Arizona with an average temperature of 98.9 degrees Fahrenheit, nearly two degrees warmer than the previous record set in 2023.
  • Phoenix, Arizona, suffered a record 113 straight days with temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • As of September 2024, extreme heat had killed 256 people in Phoenix’s Maricopa County and was suspected to be the cause of 393 other deaths.
•  2024 was the hottest summer on record for Las Vegas, Nevada with the average temperature reaching 96.2 degrees Fahrenheit, breaking the 93.7 degree record set in 2018.
• According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), summer 2024 was the hottest summer on record for Arizona, California, Florida, Maine, and New Hampshire.
• In 2024, for the third year in a row, extreme drought conditions in the Midwest were lowering water levels on the Mississippi River, raising prices for companies that transport goods downstream and forcing governments and business owners to seek alternative solutions.
  • Since 2022, much of the Midwest has experienced some level of drought, with the driest conditions concentrated in Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, and Kansas.
• In September 2024, 95% of Ohio was experiencing some level of drought conditions causing an increase in local produce prices, including at pumpkin patches and apple orchards during the 2024 fall.

2023 Season

• Average annual heat-related deaths went up 95% in the US from 2010 to 2022.
• In the U.S., an average of 702 heat-related deaths occur each year.
• As of September 9, 2023 Arizona’s Maricopa County confirmed 202 heat-associated deaths,  far more than the 175 confirmed by the same time last year.
• On July 18, 2023, Phoenix broke a nearly fifty-year record after reaching 19 consecutive days of 110°F or higher. 
• With a large El Niño warming pattern brewing in the Pacific Ocean, 2023 was one of the hottest years on record. 
• Scientists found that in parts of the Northern Hemisphere, the summer of 2023 was the hottest in 2,000 years.
  • According to their findings, the Northern Hemisphere experienced its hottest summer over the past 2,000 years by more than 0.5 degrees Celsius. 
• Scientists predicted that record highs during the 2023 summer aligned with their expectations for climate change and warned that more scorchers were coming.
• The eastern U.S. experienced consistently warmer than average temperatures during 2023 with 28 states experiencing a top-10 warmest January–July including Florida, which ranked warmest on record.
• The world’s ocean temperatures climbed to their highest level on record in August 2023, according to data from the European Union’s climate monitor.
  • The average daily global sea surface temperature rose to 69.76 Fahrenheit on Aug. 4, far above the average for this time of year.

Deaths And Damages

• Each year, extreme heat kills more people than any other climate-fueled hazard, including hurricanes, floods, and wildfires.
  • In 2023, at least 2,325 heat-related deaths occurred in the United States, and more than 21,518 people have died from heat since 1999.
  • A 2022 report from Public Citizen found that heat causes at least 170,000 work-related injuries and as many as 2,000 fatalities annually. 
  • Researchers found a 117% increase in heat-related deaths over the past 24 years, with a significant upswing since 2016. 
  • Between 2011 and 2020, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Bureau of Labor Statistics underestimated that heat was responsible for roughly 340 injuries and 40 workplace deaths. 
  • The elderly, infants and children, people with chronic health conditions, outdoor workers, low-income families, and communities of color are the most vulnerable to heat-related illnesses and death.
• According to the 2022 IPCC report, climate change has negatively affected human health and wellbeing in North America. High temperatures have increased mortality and morbidity with the severity of impacts influenced by age, gender, location, and socioeconomic conditions.
• A recent study found that two-thirds of Americans (or nearly 210 million people) live in counties that are vulnerable to health threats from unexpectedly high summer temperatures.
  • The report found that extreme temperatures can cause heat exhaustion and heatstroke and worsen preexisting cardiovascular and respiratory conditions.
  • The report also found that heat waves have been the top cause of U.S. weather fatalities, on average, over the past 30 years.
  • Older adults, young children, people with chronic illness, lower-income communities, some communities of color, and people who work or exercise outdoors are among the populations most vulnerable to heat-related health effects.
  • Collectively, 45 major urban areas in the United States could see about 28,000 more deaths each year due to extremely hot summer days by the 2090s.
• The 2023 Lancet Countdown report on health and climate change found that without significant reductions to global greenhouse gas emissions, the number of heat-related deaths each year will increase by 370% by 2050.
  • In 2023, 48% of the global land area was affected by at least one month of extreme drought, the second-highest level since 1951.
  • Older people and infants are now exposed to twice the number of heat wave days annually as they were from 1986 to 2005.
  • Globally, exposure to extreme heat and resulting productivity losses or inability to work may have led to income losses as high as $863 billion in 2022. 
  • In 2021, an estimated 127 million more people experienced moderate or severe food insecurity linked to heat waves and droughts than from 1981 to 2010.
• Researchers found that heat-induced infrastructure problems can arise not only in places such as Arizona, where temperatures can be brutal but also in traditionally cooler locations such as the Pacific Northwest, which are seeing warmer temperatures than ever before.
• According to a 2024 report, heat deaths of people without air conditioning, often in mobile homes, underscore energy inequity.
• A 2024 study  found that the risk of death for dialysis patients increased by 15% to 20% during extreme heat events. 
• Researchers found that the number of annual heat-related deaths increased by 117% from 1999 to 2023.
• Extreme heat has been found to worsen chronic health conditions in millions of Americans.
  • In states like Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, and South Carolina, chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and kidney disease are among the highest in the U.S. Those diseases make it harder for bodies to cool themselves effectively during heat waves.

In 2024 Alone, Drought and Extreme Heat Caused $5.4 BillionIn Damages And More Than 136 Deaths.

• Throughout 2024, drought conditions impacted several Southern, Eastern and Northwestern states, damaging and destroying crops across the country.
  • Extreme heat during this period also impacted these states and claimed more than 100 lives from excessive heat exposure. 

In 2023 Alone, Drought And Extreme Heat Caused $14.8 BillionIn Damages And More Than 247 Deaths. 

• From April to September of 2023, drought conditions impacted several southern and Midwestern states, including Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, Illinois, Missouri, and Nebraska. 
• A lack of rainfall damaged crops across the region and forced ranchers to sell-off livestock early. 
• For the second year in a row, portions of the Mississippi River experienced low water levels impacting river commerce. The low flow also allowed salt water from the Gulf of Mexico to migrate northward, along the bottom of the Mississippi River, impacting water quality in southern Louisiana. 
• Several Northwestern states including Washington, Oregon and Montana were also impacted by increasing drought effects.

In 2022 Alone, Drought And Extreme Heat Caused $22.6 Billion In Damages And More Than 136 Deaths. 

• The megadrought that has gripped the southwestern U.S. for the past 22 years is the worst in at least 1,200 years. Human-caused climate change is a major reason for the current drought’s severity.
• Colorado River Water Conservation District General Manager Andy Mueller warned Colorado River Basin states that the system’s federal reservoirs could effectively empty in the next three to four years barring aggressive reductions to water demands.
• The historical drought of the Colorado River Basin has led the Bureau of Reclamation to declare the first ever water shortage and reduce water allocations by 18% in Arizona and 7% in Nevada for 2022.
  • The water reduction put local communities at risk, and threatened National Critical Functions including electricity distribution, producing and providing agricultural products and services, and vessel transport of cargo and passengers.
• In 2022, nearly 1,400 household wells have been reported dry in California— an almost 40% increase over the same period last year and the highest annual number reported since 2013. Areas with the highest number of well failures included Fresno, Madera, Tulare, and Tehama counties, which have Latino majority populations.
• During the Summer of 2022,  intense heat waves shattered daily temperature records, leaving millions across the U.S. to deal with dangerously high temperatures.
  • Arizona’s Maricopa County has seen seven back-to-back record-setting years for extreme heat deaths. In 2022, Maricopa County recorded 425 heat-associated fatalities, up from 339 in 2021. 

Climate Change Has Increased Pregnancy Heat Risk Days in U.S.

• A May 2025 Climate Central report found that climate change added 12 (48%) of the 25 average annual pregnancy heat-risk days (extremely hot days associated with increased risk of preterm birth) experienced during the last five years.
  • All 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia experienced at least one additional week’s worth of pregnancy heat-risk days due to climate change on average, annually. Cities across the U.S. Southwest had the highest average number of pregnancy heat-risk days added by climate change.
• Exposure to extreme heat during pregnancy has been linked to higher risks of complications, maternal hospitalizations, and severe maternal morbidity. It’s also associated with an increased risk of adverse outcomes such as stillbirth and preterm birth, which can have lasting health effects on the baby.

Impact On Agriculture

• The 2023 National Climate Assessment warned:
  • “A changing climate, characterized by more frequent and severe extremes events, such as heatwaves, droughts, and extreme rainfall will affect US agriculture, food systems, and rural communities. […] Climate change is projected to reduce the availability and affordability of nutritious food, with impacts being unevenly distributed across society. Rural communities, which manage much of the Nation’s land and natural resources, face unique challenges and opportunities due to climate change.”
  • “Climate change increases existing risks in rural communities, some of which have limited resources and infrastructure to adapt. Many risks are disproportionately greater in some Black, Indigenous, Latino, and lower-income communities, and among some small-scale, beginning, and underrepresented farmers.”
  • “Climate change exacerbates soil degradation through drought, flooding, and excessive heat events that disrupt normal plant production and ecosystem processes.”
  • “All dimensions of food security—availability, accessibility, utilization (or usability), and stability—are expected to be affected by climate change through long-term changes in average climatic conditions (e.g., annual precipitation and temperature), as well as increases in climate variability and the frequency, magnitude, and duration of climate extremes.”
• The 2018 National Climate Assessment warned:
  • “Any change in the climate poses a major challenge to agriculture through increased rates of crop failure, reduced livestock productivity, and altered rates of pressure from pests, weeds, and diseases. Rural communities, where economies are more tightly interconnected with agriculture than with other sectors, are particularly vulnerable to the agricultural volatility related to climate.”
  • “Elevated temperatures play a critical role in increasing the rate of drought onset, overall drought intensity, and drought impact through altered water availability and demand.”
  • “Increased evaporation rates caused by high temperatures, in association with drought, will exacerbate plant stress, yield reduction, fire risks, and depletion of surface and groundwater resources.”
  • “Soil carbon, important for enhancing plant productivity through a variety of mechanisms, is depleted during drought due to low biomass productivity, which in turn decreases the resilience of agroecosystems.”
• The 2014 National Climate Assessment warned:
  • “Some areas are already experiencing climate-related disruptions, particularly due to extreme weather events.”
  • “While some U.S. regions and some types of agricultural production will be relatively resilient to climate change over the next 25 years or so, others will increasingly suffer from stresses due to extreme heat, drought, disease, and heavy downpours.”
  • “From mid-century on, climate change is projected to have more negative impacts on crops and livestock across the country – a trend that could diminish the security of our food supply.”
• In 2020, across New England, crops suffered widespread losses and 165 community water systems had restrictions in place due to hot and dry conditions. The hot year got an early start when temperatures in Boston, MA soared into the 70s two days in a row on the weekend of January 11-12. In June of that year, Caribou, ME was one of the hottest places east of the Mississippi river, reaching 96°F.

Summer 2024 Droughts And Heat Waves Impacted Farms Across The U.S.

• As of June 3, 2024, almost two-thirds of Washington State was abnormally dry or suffering from a moderate drought.
  • In April 2024, a drought emergency was declared, and in May 2024, the Roza Irrigation District, which covers 72,000 acres of land across the state, shut off its spigots in an attempt to conserve water. 
  • Droughts are expected to impact several crops in the Yakima River Basin, including apples, berries, cherries, peaches, pears, and corn, and wine and beer market. 
  • Since 1941, the Yakima River Basin has experienced 13 major droughts. Farmers are expecting half their normal water supply. 
• As of July 9, 2024, more than 99% of North Carolina was experiencing abnormally dry weather.
  • Corn, melon, and green bean crops across the state were expected to be impacted by high temperatures. 
• In July 2024, the Virginia Drought Monitoring Task Force issued a drought watch advisory for 95 counties and cities.
  • According to farmers, high temperatures negatively impacted the pollination of corn. 

Extreme Temperatures Impact Livestock Health And Grazing Forage

• Dairy cows are particularly sensitive to heat stress, as it negatively affects their appetite, rumen fermentation, and lactation yield. In 2010, heat stress was estimated to have lowered annual U.S. dairy production by $1.2 billion.
• The Montana Farmers Union issued a report projecting a 20% drop in Montana range cattle production by 2055 because of climate change.
  • The drop in Montana cattle production could cost ranchers more than 12,000 jobs and $364 million in earnings due to water shortages, increased temperature and concentrations of carbon that will make grass and hay less digestible and nutritious to livestock.

Drought Will Limit Water Sources And Irrigation

• According to the 2018 National Climate Assessment, “Increased evaporation rates caused by high temperatures, in association with drought, will exacerbate plant stress, yield reduction, fire risks, and depletion of surface and groundwater resources.”
• In 2012, more than two thirds of U.S. counties were declared as disaster areas because of severe and extended drought. This drought greatly affected livestock, wheat, corn, and soybean production in the Great Plains and Midwest regions and accounted for $14.5 billion in loss payments by the federal crop insurance program.
• Another drought event in 2011 cost over $10 billion in direct losses to the agriculture sector in Texas and Oklahoma alone.
• According to the USDA, changing melting of snowpack because of climate change may lead to early melting and loss of water before necessary irrigation periods in the western U.S.
• Irrigated agriculture uses more than 95% of the groundwater extracted from the Ogallala Aquifer, and the economy of the region depends almost entirely on irrigated agriculture, but climate change is projected to further increase the duration and intensity of drought over much of the region in the next 50 years.

Threats To Critical Infrastructure

Water And Wastewater Systems

• Groundwater from aquifers supplies around 33% of public water supply and provides drinking water for over 97% of the nation’s rural population.
• Drought can cause groundwater to be depleted more quickly than it is replenished, making water unavailable for irrigation and consumption.
• In areas that rely on surface water, hot and dry weather exacerbates the situation by increasing the amount of water lost to evaporation.
  • In 2011, Groesbeck, Texas, came within 2 weeks of exhausting its water supply. The state had to step in and install temporary pipelines to augment the water supply for the small town at a cost of approximately $410,000.
• By 2029, chronic service disruptions could cost water-reliant businesses $111 billion and American households a cumulative $378 million in healthcare costs.
• Drought can also lead to contamination of fresh groundwater supplies. Water reservoirs may experience increased pollutant levels and lower levels of oxygen, leading to higher concentrations of illness-causing bacteria and protozoa, as well as toxic blue-green algae blooms.
• Reduced flow levels in rivers and aquifers can allow saltwater to move inland and also contaminate the water supply. Most water treatment plants are not equipped to remove salts, which can cause problems not only for potable water but also for industrial uses.
  • In the summer of 2012, saline intrusion into drinking water was reported in Florida, South Carolina, and Louisiana.

Transportation Infrastructure

• Extreme heat can impact bridges, roadways, railways, airports, ports and public transportation systems.
  • A 2019 study found that extreme heat from climate change could cause one in four steel bridges in the Unites States to collapse by 2050. By 2040, failures caused by extreme heat could require widespread bridge repairs and closures.
• Transportation systems – including roads, railroads, bridges, ports, and airports – are vulnerable to climate-change induced extreme weather events like extreme heat, wildfires, heavy rainfall, hurricanes, and sea level rise. 
• In June 2025, a climate change-driven heat wave caused roads to buckle in multiple states. The same heat caused train tracks to warp, resulting in major delays for rail commuters across the East Coast.
• Most transportation infrastructure was not built for the extreme heat that many areas now face. Extreme heat can change the properties of materials, leading to destructive processes like expanding, warping, buckling, and faster aging due to softening. Infrastructure with mechanical parts, such as movable bridges, are especially vulnerable to extreme heat, which can cause parts to malfunction and not fit together. 
• Extreme heat is costly for transportation systems. Under an intermediate emissions scenario, future warming is projected to add $21.8 billion to asphalt pavement maintenance costs by 2070. And heat-related railroad delays could cost up to $60 billion cumulatively by 2100. 
• In Alaska, rising temperatures are melting the frozen ground (permafrost) that roads are built on, decreasing the conditions essential for wintertime ice roads and forcing communities to rethink how they stay connected. 
• Extreme heat makes it difficult for planes to take off as the air gets thinner, resulting in flights being grounded when temperatures soar in cities such as Phoenix and Las Vegas.
• Droughts can affect water levels on commerce channels like the Mississippi River.
  • In 2013, due to ongoing drought, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had to blast, dredge, and clear obstructions on a key stretch of the Mississippi River in order to maintain the necessary 9 feet of water for transport barges to operate.
• Extreme heat can disrupt and damage both trains and rail infrastructure:
  • High temperatures can cause even electric train engines to overheat and break down.
  • Hot weather can weaken and distort the steel rails that trains run on, making train tracks softer and vulnerable to warping.
    • Warped or buckled train tracks can easily derail trains, causing further damage to infrastructure and placing lives at risk.
    • In June 2024, tens of thousands of commuters across the Northeast faced widespread delays in Amtrak train services as a result of wire malfunctions and extreme heat. 
  • When the risk of buckling rails is high, trains have to slow down, or sometimes stop completely.
    • In 2021, TriMet, the agency that operates mass transit in the Portland metropolitan area, shut down all MAX and WES train lines due to extreme heat.
  • Extreme heat across the Pacific Northwest in 2021 melted transportation infrastructure and caused severe delays:
    • In June, triple-digit temperatures caused delays on trains in California’s Bay Area, with some trains running almost 40 minutes late.
  • Train delays caused by overheated or warped rails are estimated to cost the U.S. between $45 to $60 billion by 2100.
• Drought can also cause considerable damage to roads. A 2011 drought in Texas caused $26 million in road damages, and during the 2021 summer heatwave, roads in Everson, WA and Ogden, UT, were shut due to buckling asphalt.
• A 2024 study from Recurrent found that electric vehicles can lose up to 30% of their drivable range in triple-digit weather. 
• Climate change is making turbulence worse. According to a 2023 study, at a typical point over the North Atlantic, severe clear-air turbulence increased by 55% from 1979 to 2020, consistent with the expected effects of climate change.  

Energy

• A new study found that if a multiday blackout in Phoenix coincided with a heat wave, nearly half the population would require emergency department care for heat stroke or other heat-related illnesses.
• High temperatures limit the transfer capability of transmission lines, increase energy losses and cause power lines to sag, which increases wildfire risk by bringing them closer to trees and vegetation.
  • Transmission lines are designed within limits of how much power they can move while maintaining safe operating conditions relative to air temperatures. When temperatures get too hot, lines can falter.
  • Spring and fall are traditionally reserved for maintenance, but over the past decade increasing heat waves and cold snaps have forced power plants to remain online during those seasons. At the same time, these facilities need more upkeep as they age and are required to turn off and on more frequently to align their load with more intermittent resources like wind and solar.
• Drought conditions across much of the West means less water is available for hydroelectric power. Hydroelectric power may also become unavailable during droughts, and when heat waves coincide with droughts, electricity demands can grow, compounding stress on the grid.
  • Drought in California was found to “cost” California ratepayers $1.4 billion over the three years ending in October 2014 as a result of reduced hydroelectricity production that was replaced by more expensive natural gas. That fuel switching also increased carbon dioxide emissions by 8%.
• Droughts can raise concerns about the reliability of electricity production from plants that require cooling water to safely operate.
• Long hot summers can cause higher bills, periodic rationing and blackouts. Higher temperatures boost energy use as people switch on the air conditioning.
  • Floridians, who already pay 13% more than the national average for electricity, could see annual increases of 5% or more on electric bills due to air conditioning use.
  • Floridians could pay an additional $122 every year until 2040, totaling up to $2,400 in avoidable costs due to climate change.
  • California could soon face $200 million a year in increased energy bills to keep homes air conditioned during extreme heat events.
  • In August 2020, a massive heat wave triggered two consecutive nights of rolling blackouts across California, impacting hundreds of thousands of customers.
  • In the summer of 2022, California could potentially have a 3,500 megawatt gap between energy demand and supply, which would leave as many as 3.5 million homes without power.
  • In Texas, severe heat waves in June 2022 led to a record demand on the power grid. Residents were asked to conserve power during high temperatures and avoid using large appliances between peak usage hours.
• A report by Climate Central found that between 2000 and 2021, about 83% of reported major outages in the U.S. were attributed to weather-related events.
  • 5% were caused by extreme heat and wildfires.

How Infrastructure Investments Can Help

Upgrades To Water Infrastructure

• Building necessary infrastructure for aquifer storage and recovery, including percolation basins and injection wells, increases climate resilience for seasonal or extended periods of drought while taking advantage of seasonal variations in surface water runoff.
• Extreme heat can damage transportation infrastructure by causing kinks in rails from heat expansion and melting airport runways.
• Increasing available storage can combat the risk of reduced safe yields of reservoirs caused by drought. Methods for accomplishing this may include raising a dam, practicing aquifer storage and recovery, removing accumulated sediment in reservoirs or lowering water intake elevation.
• Installing low-head dams for saltwater wedge and freshwater pool separation can help combat surface water quality issues that arise when rising sea levels, combined with reductions in freshwater runoff due to drought, cause the salt water-freshwater boundary to move further upstream in tidal estuaries.
• More frequent droughts may increase receiving water quality limitations. In order to limit wastewater discharges, water recycling infrastructure can be installed in homes and businesses to expand supply and decrease the need to discharge into receiving waters.
• The EPA estimates that aging infrastructure, such as leaky pipes and water mains, results in the loss of 2.1 trillion gallons of treated drinking water in the U.S. each year.
• There is a water main break every two minutes and an estimated 6 billion gallons of treated water is lost each day in the U.S., enough to fill over 9,000 swimming pools.
• The U.S. lost an estimated $7.6 billion of treated water in 2019 due to leaks.

Energy Efficiency Upgrades

• Increasing energy efficiency in buildings uses less water-cooled power and thus can improve resilience to drought.

Installation Of Green Infrastructure

• The installation of green infrastructure can aid in reducing drought conditions that fuel wildfires.
• Watershed management techniques that generally focus on preserving or restoring vegetated land cover in a watershed and managing stormwater runoff can help mimic natural watershed hydrology, increasing groundwater recharge, reducing runoff and improving the quality of runoff.
• Rain gardens, planter boxes, and bioswales, as well as green streets, can help replenish local groundwater reserves. These infiltration-based practices that can be located in parking lots, along streets, and near buildings, allow rainwater to slowly soak into the ground.
• Green infrastructure can also mitigate smog and heat — key drivers of wildfires in metropolitan areas.
  • Green roofs, green streets, and other forms of green infrastructure improve air quality and reduce smog.
  • Green infrastructure techniques reduce the effects of urban heat islands which put more people at risk in the U.S. each year than hurricanes, floods, tornadoes and lightning combined.

Wildfires

Big Picture

Wildfires are becoming more frequent and more severe. 

In fact, the 2018 National Climate Assessment found “the area burned by wildfire from 1984 to 2015 was twice what would have burned had climate change not occurred.” Increasing heat, changing rain and snow patterns, shifts in plant communities, and other climate-fueled changes havevastly increased the likelihood that fires will start more often and burn more intensely and widely. One in six Americans currently live in areas with significant wildfire risk. 

Wildfires, climate change, and our country’s aging electricity infrastructure are inextricably linked. Approximately 10% of wildfire ignitions are sparked by faults on electrical infrastructure or electric equipment failure. Transmission lines have limits for how much power they can safely at different outside air temperatures, so the hotter the air gets, the harder it is to get power where it is needed and the higher the risk of starting a fire. At the same time, wildfires burn and destroy high tension electric transmission lines, causing billions of dollars of damage. Making the switch to clean, renewable sources of electricity and modernizing the grid is absolutely critical to limiting the impacts of large wildfires.

Link To Climate Change

• Climate change is a key factor in increasing the risk and extent of wildfires, particularly across the Western U.S. Research shows that changes in climate create warmer, drier conditions that boost increases in wildfire risk.
• Fire weather – hot, dry, windy conditions that allow wildfires to start and spread – is on the rise in the U.S. due to rising temperatures and prolonged drought, boosted by climate change. 
  • Hot, dry conditions dry out vegetation, making it perfect wildfire fuel. Windy conditions allow for wildfires to spread faster and become more difficult to contain.
• Researchers found that human-caused climate change accounts for at least two-thirds of the rapid increase in fire weather in the western United States in recent decades. 
• A January 2025 study found that two large wildfires that erupted in Los Angeles, California, the Palisades and Eaton wildfires, were made 35% more likely by climate change. 
• A June 2024 study found that the frequency and intensity of extreme wildfires have more than doubled in the past two decades due to climate change. 
• In August 2024, ​​California insurance officials approved Allstate’s request to raise homeowners’ insurance rates by an average of about 34%.
• A May 2023 study found that almost 40% of forest area burned by wildfire in the Western United States and Southwestern Canada in the last 40 years can be attributed to carbon emissions associated with the world’s 88 largest fossil fuel producers and cement manufacturers.
  • The emissions generated in the extraction of fossil fuels, as well as the burning of those fuels, have increased the amount of land burned by wildfires by raising global temperatures and amplifying dry conditions across the West.
• According to the 2022 IPCC report, large wildfires will increasingly endanger lives, livelihoods, mental and physical health, property, key infrastructure, and economic activities and contribute to compromised air quality and municipal water contamination with multiple human health implications.
• A 2022 UN report estimated that the risk worldwide of highly devastating fires could increase by up to 57% by the end of the century, primarily because of climate change.
• The number of people in Western states facing significant exposure to wildfire is expected to grow from 33% in 2022 to 39% by 2052.
• States in the Southern U.S., including Texas, Florida, Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, North Carolina, and South Carolina, stand at the forefront of a growing fire risk problem.
  • By 2052 the South will be home to the largest number of people at significant wildfire risk — 32 million residents. 
• Thanks to climate change, wildfires are now occurring higher up mountain slopes at elevations previously thought to be too wet to burn.
• Increasing heat, changing rain and snow patterns, shifts in plant communities, and other climate-fuelled changes have vastly increased the likelihood that fires will start more often and burn more intensely and widely.
• A 2016 study found that over 70% of the area burned in forest fires between 1970 and 2012 occurred in years where the winter snowfall disappeared early.
• Higher autumn temperatures and a reduction in precipitation— particularly a growing delay in the onset of winter rains, which usually puts an end to the fire season in California — have led to a 20% increase in the number of autumn days with conditions ripe for wildfires.
• Due to both warming temperatures pushing springtime earlier in the year and higher temperatures and a lack of rain extending into autumn, the western fire season has extended by at least 84 days since the 1970s.
• Lower precipitation and warmer air temperatures dry out forests and other vegetation. This increased drought coupled with strong winds and decades of fire suppression is a recipe for wildfire ignition.
  • A recent study found that human-caused climate change is responsible for more than half of the drying-out of burnable materials and consequent fire risk since the 1970s.
• For much of the U.S. West projections show that an average annual 1°C temperature increase would increase the median burned area per year by as much as 600% in some types of forests.
• Acres burned by wildfire have doubled in recent decades due to climate change.
• California and Oregon’s 2020 fire season held the highest fire intensity of the past 18 years.
• The 2021 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report concluded fire weather will increase as temperatures warm to 1.5°and grow even further at 2°C.
• Billowing black smoke during wildfire disasters has caused atmospheric carbon monoxide levels to increase.
  • Wildfires raging across the west can impact the air locally and afar, with the potential to affect millions across the country.
  • The toxic output from fires is dangerous, contributing to an estimated loss of more than 15,000 lives in the US each year. Some scientists say that number will double by the end of the century.
  • Smoke from western fires has also been attributed to up to 5,900 asthma-related emergency department visits a year.

Wildfires

2025 Season

• In August, the Gifford Fire became the largest wildfire for California this year, burning over 131,000 acres across San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties, prompting widespread evacuations, destroying several structures and injuring 17 people.
• In July 2025, the Cram Fire became the largest U.S. wildfire in 2025 and destroyed four homes and two other structures. The fire also threatened 653 structures, including several hundred homes.
  • As of July 22, 2025, the Cram Fire had burned 95,736 acres and was 73% contained. 
• In January 2025, several wildfires in Los Angeles County, California burned approximately 40,000 acres, destroyed approximately 16,000 structures, and killed at least 29 persons
  • The Palisades and Eaton wildfires together destroyed a total of 37,000 acres and were the second and third most destructive wildfires respectively. 
  • The fires were responsible for 29 deaths and destroyed nearly 17,000 structures including the homes of thousands of residents that were forced to evacuate.  
  • A recent report found that human-caused global warming made the conditions that drove the Los Angeles-area wildfires approximately 35% more likely. 
  • In the aftermath of the LA County wildfires, researchers have found a growing trend in California wildfires disproportionately impacting diverse communities. 

2024 Season

• Starting in September 2024, California’s Line Fire burned through 43,978 acres of land
  • In September, the wildfire created its own weather in the form of pyrocumulus clouds that created erratic winds and thunderstorms that pushed the fire outward, spreading it farther and challenging firefighters.
  • In September, mandatory evacuation orders were issued for 4,800 homes by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.
• California’s Park Fire started on July 24, 2024 and became the state’s fifth-largest wildfire after burning ​​429,603 Acres of land and destroying 709 structures. 
• In June 2024, several wildfires in New Mexico caused approximately $1.2 billion in damages to homes, vehicles, businesses, agriculture and other infrastructure.
  • On June 17, the South Fork Fire was reported on the Mescalero Apache Reservation and forced the evacuation of the Village of Ruidoso. The wildfire spread rapidly due to strong winds, burning 17,066 acres and destroying over one thousand structures. 
  •  The Salt Fire also originated on the Mescalero Apache Reservation and burned 7,688 acres of land. 

2023 Season

• In August 2023,  scorching wildfires burned across Hawaii, forced mass evacuations, triggered widespread power outages, and left hundreds dead.
  • At least 115 people died in the Maui wildfires, the deadliest in modern U.S. history.
  • Around 2,200 structures were damaged or destroyed in Maui, 86% residential.
  • Even where the fire has retreated, authorities have warned that toxic byproducts may remain, including in drinking water, after the flames spewed poisonous fumes.
  • Flash drought, invasive grasses, hurricane winds, and climate change fueled the devastating wildfires.

Death And Damages

• A June 2024 study found that wildfire smoke likely contributed to more than 52,000 premature deaths across California from 2008 to 2018. The economic impact from the deaths totaled to more than $430 billion. 
• An August 2025 report found that per-person exposure to harmful wildfire smoke in the U.S. was on average four times higher during 2020-2024 than during 2006-2019.
• In September 2025, researchers at Stanford University projected that, under a high warming scenario, smoke PM2.5 could result in 71,420 excess deaths per year by 2050. Cumulative excess deaths from smoke PM2.5 could reach 1.9 million between 2026-2055.

In 2025 Alone, Wildfires Caused $68.1 Billionin Damages And 31 Deaths: 

• In 2025, 77,850 fires burned over 5.1 million acres across the country. 
• In January 2025, the Los Angeles metro region was devastated by a series of wildfires, most notably the Palisades and Eaton Fires. The conditions were highly favorable for wildfire propagation, as the region was under the influence of unusually strong Santa Ana winds and extremely dry fuels.

In 2024 Alone, Wildfires Caused $1.8 Billion In Damages And Two Deaths:

• In 2024, 64,897 fires burned over 8.9 million acres across the country. 
• From June to July 2024, several wildfires in New Mexico damaged homes, vehicles, businesses, agriculture, and other infrastructure. The fires started near the town of Ruidoso and spread rapidly due to strong winds, destroying over one thousand structures. 

In 2023 Alone, Wildfires Caused $5.7 Billion In Damages And 100 Deaths:

• In 2023, 56,580 fires burned over 2.6 million acres across the country. 
• On August 8, 2023, devastating wildfires destroyed the historic town of Lahaina on Maui Island of Hawaii.
  • Winds were enhanced by a high-pressure system located northwest of Hawaii, which helped to exacerbate the wildfire as it spread on the island of Maui. Hurricane Dora was also positioned south of Hawaii.
  • This was the deadliest wildfire in the U.S. in over a century. Thousands of homes, vehicles and businesses were destroyed.

In 2022 Alone, Wildfires Caused $3.2 Billion In Damages And 17 Deaths:

• In 2022, 68,988 fires burned over 7.5 million acres across the country. 
• From 2012-2022, wildfires have led to the displacement of 3 million people in the U.S.
• From April 6, 2022 to August 21, 2022, New Mexico’s largest wildfire, the Calf Canyon-Hermit’s Peak Fire burned 341,735 acres. The Calf Canyon-Hermit’s Peak Fire burned in the southern Sangre de Cristo Mountains in San Miguel County, Mora County, and Taos County, east of Santa Fe.
  • The Calf Canyon-Hermit’s Peak Fire has burned through a larger area of land than the city of Los Angeles.

In 2021 Alone, Wildfires Caused $10.8 Billion In Damages And 8 Deaths:

• In 2021, 58,985 fires burned over 7.1 million acres across the country.
• In 2021, California’s Dixie Fire became the second largest wildfire in the state’s history and the largest in 2021.
  • It is also the first known fire to move across the Sierra Nevada mountain range from the western foothills to the eastern valleys.
• The end of 2021 and beginning of 2022 saw a rare winter blaze in Colorado that became the most destructive in the state’s history.
  • The Marshall Fire destroyed 6,000 acres and almost 1,100 houses and businesses across the towns of Louisville, Superior and unincorporated Boulder county, killing one person and displacing tens of thousands of people.
• Throughout the wildfire season air quality was also a concern across numerous states, as ash and fine particulates from wildfires obscured the skies and made outdoor activities more hazardous.

In 2020 Alone, Wildfires Caused $17.9 Billion In Damages And 46 Deaths:

• In 2020, 58,950 fires burned over 10.1 million acres across the country.
• Record-breaking western wildfires in 2020 caused an estimated $17.9 billion in damages and 46 deaths.
• 2020 was the worst wildfire season in history for both California and Colorado – with California seeing 5 of the 6 largest fires in state history and over 4.1 million acres burned.
• Approximately 10,500 structures were damaged or destroyed across California. Oregon also had historic levels of wildfire damage, with over 2,000 structures burned.
• Oregon’s 2020 wildfire season set records for the amount of destruction. From 2015 to 2019, Oregon lost a combined 93 homes to wildfire. In 2020, 4,009 homes were destroyed.
• Colorado saw its three largest wildfires on record burn during 2020 – including its first 200,000 acre fire.

Impact On Agriculture

Wildfires Can Destroy Or Impair Both Crops And Livestock

• Researchers found that air pollution from wildfires can substantially reduce plant productivity even hundreds of kilometers away from the direct impact zone of a wildfire.
• Air pollution from nearby wildfires has made working in the fields during harvest time even more dangerous for farmworkers.
• Lost workdays can affect workers economically as well, and regardless of their proximity to fire, agricultural workers can experience stress and other mental health issues related to wildfire events.
• Wildfires across the western U.S. in 2020 caused devastating losses of wine grapes and hemp/marijuana crops.
• Nearly 300 animals – mainly horses, sheep, goats and alpacas – were killed in Solano County, CA during the 2020 LNU Lightning Complex fire.
  • Animals that survive being caught in or near wildfires can still experience long-term health impacts that can lead cattle to stop eating and deteriorate in condition.
• Grazing rangelands can show about a 40% loss of production in the first growing season after a fire, and about 20% in the second year.
• The Texas Panhandle wildfires caused $123 million in preliminary agricultural losses, making it one of the costliest wildfires on record.
  • The wildfire caused more than 1.2 million acres of farmland to be burned and more than 12,000 cattle deaths. 

Threats To Critical Infrastructure

• During 2000-2019, more than 256,000 miles of roads across the contiguous U.S. were exposed to large fires. That’s more than 10 times the circumference of the Earth.
• Scorching temperatures from wildfires can melt the binder material that holds asphalt together, leading to premature aging of roads. And days to months after wildfires, landslides that are made more likely by the fire that destabilizes land can take out roads. 
• By 2029, chronic service disruptions could cost water-reliant businesses $111 billion and American households a cumulative $378 million in healthcare costs.
• Wildfires burn and destroy high tension electric transmission lines, causing billions of dollars of damage.
• Approximately 10% of wildfire ignitions are sparked by faults on electrical infrastructure or electric equipment failure. Power shut offs due to wildfires are a growing risk, and aging power infrastructure will only cause more fires.
  • In March 2022, the state auditor reported that state officials are failing to hold California’s electric utilities accountable for preventing fires caused by their equipment.
    • The report to the California Legislature found that the new Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety approved utility companies’ wildfire prevention plans even when they were “seriously deficient.”
      • Included were plans by Pacific Gas & Electric, California’s largest utility, which was held responsible for sparking the state’s deadliest wildfire, the Camp Fire that killed 85 people in 2018.
    • Since 2015, power lines have caused six of California’s 20 most destructive wildfires.
    • Acting State Auditor raised concerns about the increasing numbers of so-called public safety power shutoffs, when companies cut power during times of high fire risk.
      • Between 2013 through 2021, the state’s largest utilities shut off power to more than 3.6 million customers during 67 power curtailments.
      • There were some 600 unplanned power outages in 2020 alone.
• Transmission lines are designed within limits of how much power they can move while maintaining safe operating conditions relative to air temperatures.
• A 2022 report by Climate Central found that between 2000 and 2021, about 83% of reported major outages in the U.S. were attributed to weather-related events.
  • 5% were caused by extreme heat and wildfires.
• A 2024 analysis by Climate Central found that more than one-third of the U.S. population (nearly 116 million people) and about one-third of all buildings (around 48 million homes and residential structures) are in counties with high or very high wildfire risk to homes.
  • More than 265,000 miles of U.S. roads and power lines were exposed to large wildfires between 2000 to 2019.
  • Western states see some of the greatest risks to homes and other buildings. About 62% of counties in the western U.S. and 13% of counties in the eastern U.S. face a high or very high risk to homes.
  • The states with the highest percent of counties with high or very high wildfire risk to homes are Hawai’i, California, Oklahoma, Idaho, and Nevada. 
• An August 2023 study found that low-income communities have disproportionately lower rates of undergrounding and fewer fire-safe metal poles, resulting in higher costs to bury existing overhead power lines.
  • These communities are more at risk for power line fires and to have their electricity shut off during extreme weather events.

How Infrastructure Investments Can Help

Electrical Grid Infrastructure

• Upgrades to power system infrastructure – including undergrounding of power lines, installing fast-tripping protection systems, and constructing weather monitoring stations to respond to electrical system fire risks  – will all aid in reducing wildfire risk.
  • Where undergrounding of power lines is too difficult or costly, hardening of overhead power lines and installation of fault location equipment is recommended.

Building Infrastructure Upgrades

• Building design and materials can mitigate destruction by wildfires. The University of California found a direct link between home survival and the building materials and design used in construction.
• Upgrading existing houses and ensuring roofing in new construction are fitted with Class A fire rating materials reduces ignition potential.
• Installing multi-pane tempered glass windows or windows made from special fire-rated glass will provide protection against fire embers.
• Upgrading ventilation systems also reduces the risk of embers entering homes.

Installation Of Green Infrastructure

• The installation of green infrastructure can aid in reducing drought conditions that fuel wildfires.
• Rain gardens, planter boxes, and bioswales, as well as green streets, can help replenish local groundwater reserves. These infiltration-based practices that can be located in parking lots, along streets, and near buildings, allow rainwater to slowly soak into the ground.
• Green infrastructure can also mitigate smog and heat — key drivers of wildfires in metropolitan areas.
  • Green roofs, green streets, and other forms of green infrastructure improve air quality and reduce smog.
  • Green infrastructure techniques reduce the effects of urban heat islands which put more people at risk in the U.S. each year than hurricanes, floods, tornadoes and lightning combined.

Extreme Cold And Winter Storms

Big Picture

Winter storms can range from normal snow over a few hours to a blizzard with blinding, wind-driven snow that lasts for several days. Many winter storms bring dangerously low temperatures and sometimes, strong winds, icing, sleet, and freezing rain. In the long term, instances of extreme heat are expected to outnumber and outweigh instances of extreme cold, and even if extreme cold events don’t reach record low temperatures, they can still be extremely disruptive to infrastructure and lifestyles if the cold weather is far from what is normally expected in a given location and time of year.

Exposure to cold temperatures can cause serious or life-threatening health problems, such as hypothermia and frostbite. Children, the elderly, low-income people and unhoused people are particularly at risk from the health impacts of extreme cold. The ability to feel temperature changes decreases with age, making older people more susceptible to health problems caused by cold.

Transitioning to clean energy and improving energy efficiency is essential in preventing winter weather from knocking out heat, power, and communication, sometimes for days at a time. Home weatherization and insulation can help combat extreme cold, but low-income families often lack the means to get these resources.

Link To Climate Change

• Direct scientific observations and computer simulations show that warming in the Arctic, caused by human-made climate change, is a key driver of periodic extreme cold snaps.
• Researchers found that winters have warmed across the United States by four degrees Fahrenheit on average since 1970.
  • Warm winter days have also become more common. About 87% of the locations tested now have at least seven more winter days above normal than in 1970. 
• A 2015 study found that severe winters over North America are related to anomalous warmth in the East Siberian–Chukchi Sea region.
  • Regional warming over the Arctic Ocean is accompanied by the development of an anomalous anticyclone and the downstream development of a mid-latitude trough.
  • The resulting northerly flow of cold air provides favorable conditions for severe winters in North America.
• A 2018 study found that severe winter weather in the United States is significantly related to anomalies in pan-Arctic geopotential heights and temperatures.
  • When the Arctic warming trend is greatest and extends into the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere, severe winter weather, including both cold spells and heavy snows, becomes more frequent in the eastern United States.
• Rising temperatures and reduced sea ice in the Arctic are behind some of the worst recent mid-latitude cold waves in North America and Eurasia.
• Extreme cold snaps have been linked to a stretching of the polar vortex in the stratosphere which is driven by human-caused climate change.
  • The polar vortex is a large area of low pressure and cold air around the Earth’s North Pole.
    • The polar jet stream is sustained by a temperature difference between the warmer mid-latitudes and the polar region, and the Earth’s rotation.
    • When the temperature difference across the jet stream is large, it tends to keep the polar vortex stable. But when the difference is small, the jet stream is typically weaker and more susceptible to twisting and curving.
  • A 2021 study found that heating in the Arctic ultimately disturbed the circular pattern of winds known as the polar vortex, leading to extreme cold such as winter storm Uri in February 2021.
  • Polar vortex stretching has become more common over the last 40 years, demonstrating how Arctic warming may be driving winter extremes in the U.S., producing intense cold spells in a warming climate.
    • The polar vortex is a semi-permanent pool of cold air over the poles about 10 to 30 miles high. When the vortex is stretched out, shifts in the jet stream at lower altitudes can push cold surface air into the mid-latitudes, including the U.S.
• A 2024 report found that winter’s longest cold streaks have gotten shorter since 1970 in 98% of 240 U.S. locations analyzed.
  • Cold streaks shrunk by six days on average across 240 locations from 1970 to 2023.
• Ice coverage of the Great Lakes is decreasing due to climate change. According to a report from Climate Central, despite year-to-year variability, long-term records show a 25% decrease in basin-wide ice cover as well as a trend toward fewer frozen days across the Great Lakes since 1973. 

Death And Damages

So Far In 2025, Winter Storms Have Already Impacted Communities Across The Country. 

• In January 2025, hundreds of stations across the South and Southeast set new snowfall records. Some locations in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida accumulated 10.0 or more inches of snow from the storm. 
• January 2025 was the coldest January since 1988 with an average temperature of 29.2 degrees Fahrenheit. 

In 2024, Freeze Events And Winter Storms CausedAt Least $3.6 Billion In Damages And 61 U.S. Deaths:

• From January 12 to January 14, 2024, an arctic front moved across Western Washington and Oregon dropping temperatures below freezing.
  • The storm brought freezing rain and impacted areas along the coast and the Willamette Valley northward into southwest Washington. Numerous locations including Springfield and the Portland metro area were affected by the icing and strong winds, which caused significant tree damage and power outages. 
  • Homes, businesses, vehicles and other infrastructure were damaged.
• From January 14 to January 18, 2024, several central and southern states including Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Texas, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee and Georgia were hit by a cold air mass.
  • The long-duration cold wave produced sleet and freezing rain accumulations into the deep south, across much of Mississippi. High winds also pushed wind chills below zero for many states causing dozens of fatalities, many in Tennessee. 
  • Homes, vehicles and businesses were damaged by the high winds and frozen precipitation.

In 2023 Alone, Freeze Events And Winter Storms Caused At Least $1.8 Billion In Damages And 1 U.S. Deaths:

• From February 2 through February 5, 2023, A strong winter storm produced snow, high winds and bitter cold across numerous Northeastern states.
  • High winds caused widespread power outages in Massachusetts while Mount Washington, New Hampshire observed a wind chill temperature of -108 degrees Fahrenheit. This was one of the coldest wind chill temperatures ever recorded in the United States. 

In 2022 Alone, Freeze Events And Winter Storms Caused At Least $8.6 Billion In Damages And 87 U.S. Deaths:

• From December 20 through December 26, 2022, Winter Storm Elliott led to a widespread cold outbreak that engulfed the entire eastern two-thirds of the country, leading to the deaths of 87 people.
  • The storm intensified into a bomb cyclone, a powerful, rapidly intensifying storm associated with a sudden and significant drop in atmospheric pressure by at least 24 millibars in 24 hours, bringing high winds, blizzard conditions, and flooding. 
  • Across the country, over 6.3 million customers lost power at one point or another. At the storms’ peak on Christmas, an estimated 1.7 million businesses and homes faced power outages.

In 2021 Alone, Freeze Events And Winter Storms Caused At Least $180 Billion In Damages And 700 U.S. Deaths:

• In February 2021, Winter Storm Uri caused over $180 billion in damages to Texas businesses, landowners and families.
  • More than 4.5 million homes and businesses lost power during Winter Storm Uri because of the lack of preparation to modernize critical infrastructure.
  • The 2021 electricity blackouts in Texas left more than 700 dead and millions without drinking water, even after the lights came back on.
    • Experts and community groups say that many marginalized communities were the first to be hit with power outages and the last to be reconnected.
  • By February 16th, 2021, 73% of the Lower 48 states was covered by snow, the most widespread snow cover of the contiguous United States in 17 years.

Threats To Critical Infrastructure

• One of the main concerns is that winter weather can knock out heat, power, and communication, sometimes for days at a time.
  • When power fails and people resort to space heaters and fireplaces to stay warm, the risk of household fires increases, as well as the risk of deadly carbon monoxide poisoning.
• Lack of power can make water stop flowing through systems with aged pipes. Aged pipes can also freeze and result in a number of burst pipes.
• A Department of Homeland Security analysis found that the Transportation and Energy Sectors are most likely to experience the greatest infrastructure impacts from severe winter storms.

Threats To Transportation Infrastructure

• Lower-income families may not be able to stock up on essentials ahead of the storm, have access to transportation in the event of an emergency or afford precautions like renters or flood insurance, leaving them vulnerable when disaster strikes.
• During winter storms, public transportation can shut down, those without their own cars are left out in the cold.

Threats To The Electrical Grid:

• The American Society of Civil Engineers gave the United States’ energy infrastructure a C- grade in 2021. According to the ASCE’s report card: “The majority of the nation’s grid is aging, with some components over a century old — far past their 50-year life expectancy — and others, including 70% of T&D lines, are well into the second half of their lifespans.”
  • Weather-related outages and aging energy infrastructure were estimated to have cost $28 to $169 annually.
• A report by Climate Central found that between 2000 and 2021, about 83% of reported major outages in the U.S. were attributed to weather-related events.
  • 22% were caused by winter weather, including snow, ice, and freezing rain.
• Cold waves, heavy snow and the accumulation of ice can cause overhead power lines and towers to fail.
  • Overloading of conductors and ground wires by heavy icing, combined with wind forces, can cause them to break and even lead to tower collapse.
• Home weatherization and insulation can help combat extreme cold, but low-income families often lack the means to get these resources.
• Just as electricity usage spikes during periods of extreme heat, demand for energy skyrockets during cold spells and winter storms.
  • During extreme cold temperatures, the continuous use of heat pumps, emergency heat systems and electric space heaters cause the demand for energy to increase substantially.
• When power fails and people resort to space heaters and fireplaces to stay warm, the risk of household fires increases, as well as the risk of deadly carbon monoxide poisoning.
• 2022: Winter Storm Landon
  • One year after Winter Storm Uri, Winter Storm Landon caused the worst icing in Texas state history. Winter Storm Landon delivered feet of snow and damaging ice through more than a dozen states in early February 2022.
  • At the peak of the storm, more than 330,000 homes and businesses lost power in the storm’s wake, from Pennsylvania to Texas.
• 2021: Winter Storm Uri
  • The storm caused the deaths of as many as 700 people and an estimated $86 billion to $129 billion in economic damage.
  • At its peak, Winter Storm Uri led to widespread blackouts leaving 4.5 million homes and businesses without power in Texas. About 70% of Texans lost power, and about 50% had disruptions in water service.
    • Winter Storm Uri resulted in record amounts of snow in Texas, impacting all 254 counties. All sources of electricity struggled during the frigid temperatures and power outages led to a decrease in natural gas production.
    • In Texas, experts estimate that nearly $50 billion worth of electricity was consumed during the one-week storm; 250 times the normal cost.
    • Texas’s energy grid is mostly disconnected from the rest of the country, and when power infrastructure failed as it did during Winter Storm Uri, Texas couldn’t borrow power from other states. The state has the same risk during extreme heat waves.
    • Line-loss cost Harris County half a million dollars, a 2,800% increase from 2020. In Tarrant County, line-loss cost more than $300,000, representing an increase of almost 6,000%.
  • Mississippi’s power grid system broke down during the February winter storms, leaving more than 50,000 people without power for weeks.
  • 2021’s storms cost Entergy $2 billion, which will eventually be passed down to ratepayers.
• A cold snap in 2011 caused widespread power outages in the south central United States, leading to a report from FERC that recommended steps to protect power generating stations from extreme weather.
• A 2010 report found that winter weather is one of the most common problems for utilities in Colorado.

How Infrastructure Investments Can Help

Electrical Grid Infrastructure

• Blackouts in Texas in 2021 showed the impact of failing to prepare our infrastructure for extreme weather:
  • More than 4.5 million homes and businesses lost power during Winter Storm Uri because of the lack of preparation to modernize critical infrastructure.
  • Winter Storm Uri caused over $180 billion in damages to Texas businesses, landowners and families.
  • According to Dan Woodfin, a senior director at ERCOT, the main reasons for the outages are frozen instruments at natural gas, coal, and nuclear facilities, as well as limited supplies of natural gas.
  • A cold snap in 2011 caused widespread power outages in the south central United States, leading to a report from FERC that recommended steps to protect power generating stations from extreme weather.
• Developing a resilient energy infrastructure includes ensuring that energy is produced by diverse sources.
• Infrastructure hardening helps communities that are vulnerable to extreme cold and winter storms.
  • Hardened high-voltage wires, meaning burying the lines (where practical), reinforced transmission poles, or poles with stronger materials (i.e., concrete), ensures that high winds would not disrupt electricity transmission and distribution.
  • Winterized power generation facilities can withstand extended periods of below-freezing temperatures.
• A recent study shows that electricity blackouts can be avoided across the nation by switching to 100% clean and renewable energy, such as solar, wind and water.
  • The study showed that the U.S. can meet its energy demands with renewables every 30 seconds across the nation with no blackouts, even with a more populated nation in 2050 and 2051.
  • Researchers found that a switch to renewables would also lower energy demands, reduce consumer costs, create millions of new jobs and improve people’s health.
    • The study found that transitioning to a clean energy grid could create some 4.7 million more permanent jobs than those lost from the fossil fuel industry.
  • Under a grid powered by renewables, no blackouts occur, even during winter in Texas.
• The 2022 IPCC report concluded that the prices of solar and wind energy, and electric vehicle batteries, have dropped significantly since 2010 and it may now be “more expensive” in some cases to maintain highly polluting energy systems than to switch to clean sources.

Building Infrastructure Upgrades

• Home weatherization and insulation can help combat extreme cold, but low-income families often lack the means to get these resources.

Upgrades To Water Infrastructure

• A 2018 Environmental Protection Agency study found that the nation’s drinking water infrastructure needs $472.6 billion in investments through 2038.
  • Replacing aging pipes can prevent pipes from bursting and water system shutdowns during extreme cold events and winter storms.
  • Installing generators to keep water pumping and flowing to customers and help prevent pipes from freezing and breaking when the power goes out.

Tornadoes

Big Picture

The U.S. has the world’s highest tornado risk. The zone of the country most susceptible to tornadoes, known as “Tornado Alley,” may be shifting eastward due to climate change. These new at-risk areas are more densely populated and the majority of homes were not built to withstand strong tornadoes. Tornadoes have become much more variable in their intensity, and will likely continue to do so, making it difficult to pinpoint when more disastrous storms, like EF-4 or EF-5 tornadoes, will take place. Experts say these kinds of extreme weather events may only get deadlier as climate change moves coastal populations inland to vulnerable areas.

Link To Climate Change

• Tornadoes are super-charged by warm, moist air, an unstable atmosphere, and wind at different levels moving in different directions at different speeds (known as wind shear.)
• As global temperatures rise, conditions ripe for tornado development are likely to  become more common. A hotter atmosphere is able to hold more moisture, increasing atmospheric instability, while wind shear is likely to decrease.
• A 2023 study projected a 6.6% increase in supercell frequency in the densely-populated eastern U.S. by the end of this century as a result of climate warming. 
• A 2018 study found the U.S.’s “Tornado Alley” may be shifting eastwards to the densely populated Southeast region.
  • An eastwards shift could lead to a threefold increase in disaster potential.
  • Drier, desert air shifting farther eastwards into the Southeast, which is caused by climate change, is likely behind the shifting tornado threat zone.
  • Climate change is projected to make the desert Southwest even drier. And this drier air will continue to move farther into Tornado Alley. At the same time, climate models predict more moisture and severe weather in the Gulf States.
  • One of the study’s authors, Dr. Victor Gensini of Northern Illinois University, stated there is “no supporting evidence” that the cause for the shift is natural.
• Most researchers agree that if temperatures exceed the Paris Climate Agreement’s goal of 2 degrees Celsius, the number of tornadoes will increase.

Deaths And Damages

• The U.S. ranks first in the world for the number of tornadoes, seeing on average more than 1,200 annually – that’s four times as many as the rest of the world combined.
• On average, tornadoes in the U.S. kill 80 people and injure 1,500 more each year.
• The proportion of U.S. tornado fatalities that occur at night has increased 20% since 1880.

In 2025, 1,559 Tornadoes Outbreaks Caused67 Deaths. 

• 2025 ranked as the fifth-highest in terms of tornado outbreaks, following behind 2004, 2024, 2008, and 2011. 
• The Central U.S. tornado outbreaks from March 14th to 16th caused $11 billion in damage and 43 deaths, making it the second-costliest extreme weather event of 2025. 
• In 2025, there were 6 billion-dollar tornado events, which cost $28.6 billion and caused 108 deaths. 
• As of June 29, 2025, there were 1,296 preliminary filtered tornado reports nationwide, making 2025 the worst tornado season in 14 years. 
• Between April 2 and 7, a confirmed 150 tornadoes were reported across 14 states from the South into Midwest. 

In 2024, Tornado And Associated Severe Weather Events, Not Including Tropical Storms Or Hurricanes, Caused At Least $38.8 Billion In Damages And 42 Deaths:

• Between July 13 and July 16, 2024, an outbreak of more than 79 tornadoes developed across central and eastern states.
  • On July 15, the Chicago area broke a record with 32 tornadoes spawning in one day.  
• Several states, including Nebraska, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, were impacted by tornadoes between June 24 and June 26, 2024.
  • On June 25, an EF-3 tornado hit Whitman, Nebraska, and the surrounding area. 
  • On June 26, Rhode Island experienced its first June tornado in the state since records began in 1950. 
• Between June 12 and June 14, 2024, more than two dozen tornadoes and hundreds of damaging wind reports were made across several central and eastern states. 
• Between May 25 and May 26, 2024, an outbreak of more than 110 tornadoes developed across many central states including Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Illinois and Kentucky.
  • The tornadoes caused widespread damage to homes, businesses, vehicles, agriculture and other infrastructure. 
  • On May 25, an EF-3 tornado tracked through the Montague, Cooke and Denton counties of Texas, with maximum winds of 140 mph that caused seven fatalities and at least 100 injuries.
• From May 18 to May 22, 2024, several dozen tornadoes hit Central, Southern, and Eastern states, damaging  homes, vehicles, businesses, agriculture and additional infrastructure.
  • On May 21, an EF-4 tornado cut a 44-mile path across southeast Iowa, with peak wind speeds of 175-185 mph. The town of Greenfield, Iowa was heavily damaged. Multiple ‘Particularly Dangerous Situation (PDS)’ watches were issued by NOAA’s National Weather Service for these states, during this multi-day sequence. 
• Between May 6 and May 9, 2024, an outbreak of more than 165 tornadoes developed across many central, southern and southeastern states. The states most affected include Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
  • The towns of Barnsdall and Bartlesville, Oklahoma were impacted by a violet EF-4 tornado that caused extensive damage.
• Between April 26 and April 28, 2024, more than 140 tornadoes developed across several central and southern states including Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas causing widespread damage to many homes, businesses, vehicles, agriculture and other infrastructure.
  • Eastern Nebraska was particularly impacted by numerous strong tornadoes. 
  • A mile-wide tornado heavily damaged the towns of Elkhorn, Bennington, and Blair on the outskirts of Omaha.
  • On April 27, an EF-4 tornado struck Marietta, Oklahoma damaging a large commercial distribution center. Near downtown Omaha another EF-3 touched down at Eppley Airfield, which destroyed several hangars and airplanes. Several tornadoes also touched down close to Topeka, Kansas while an EF-3 tornado caused extensive damage to the town of Westmoreland.
• From April 8 to April 11, 2024, southern and eastern severe weather produced tornadoes from Texas to Virginia. More than 20 tornadoes impacted the Gulf Coast states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.
• Between April 1 and April 3, 2024, a central tornado outbreak produced more than 85 tornadoes across a three-day period from Oklahoma to West Virginia.
  • The outbreak included 19 EF-0, 52 EF-1 and 14 EF-2 tornadoes, which were most concentrated across the Ohio River Valley on April 1-2. The tornadoes and severe weather impacts across several eastern states caused damage to homes, businesses, vehicles and other infrastructure.
• Between March 12 and March 14, 2024, Ohio was impacted by hail, high wind and dozens of tornadoes including a deadly EF-3 striking northwest Ohio.
• From February 27 to February 28, 2024, severe storms produced two dozen tornadoes, hail and high wind impacts across northern Illinois, central Ohio and southern Michigan.
• Between January 8 and January 10, 2024, a southern tornado outbreak and east coast storm impacted more than a dozen states. At least 39 preliminary tornadoes were clustered around the Florida Panhandle through the Carolinas.
  • The strongest tornado was an EF-3 that caused significant damage around Panama City Beach, Florida, after an intense waterspout moved onshore.

In 2023, Tornado And Associated Severe Weather Events, Not Including Tropical Storms Or Hurricanes, Caused At Least $41.7 Billion In Damages And 98 Deaths:

• From August 5 to August 8, 2023, more than one thousand reports of high wind, severe hail or tornadoes across many Northeastern and Eastern states occurred. 
• From July 28 to July 29, 2023, tornadoes caused damage across several North Central and Eastern states including Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. 
• Between June 28 and July 2, 2023, scattered tornadoes hit central states including Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. 
• From June 21 to June 26, 2023, a multi-day outbreak of severe weather produced more than 60 tornadoes across portions of Wyoming, Colorado, Minnesota, Indiana, Kentucky and Arkansas. 
• Between June 15 and June 18, 2023, 70 preliminary tornadoes, including an EF-3 tornado in Louin, Mississippi, were reported in central and southern states. Oklahaoma was most severely impacted by the tornadoes.   
• From June 11 to June 14, 2023, numerous southern states including Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, South Carolina and Florida were impacted by hail, tornadoes and high winds.
  • The storms caused damage to many homes, vehicles and businesses across several days of severe storm activity.
•  Between May 10, 2023 and May 12, 2023, dozens of tornadoes hit the eastern Rockies and across several central states. The tornadoes impacted western Kansas, central Oklahoma and eastern Nebraska the hardest. Texas and North Dakota were also impacted by a combination of high winds, hail and isolated tornadoes with damage to homes, businesses, vehicles, farms and other infrastructure.
• From April 19 to April 20, 2023, Central Oklahoma was impacted by a cluster of tornadoes. 
• On April 15, 2023, several central and southern states including Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, Texas, Louisiana and the Florida Panhandle were impacted by hail, tornadoes and high winds. 
• Between April 4 and April 6, 2023, more than 35 tornadoes across central and southern states caused significant damage to homes, businesses, agriculture, and vehicles.  
• From March 31 to April 4, 2023, at least 145 tornadoes hit across several central states. The most severely impacted included Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, Iowa, Arkansas, Tennessee and Pennsylvania. 
• Between March 24 and March 26, 2023, more than 40 tornadoes caused damage across Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee to many homes, businesses, vehicles and other infrastructure.
  • The tornadoes caused $1.9 billion in damages and left 23 people dead.
  •  One of the hardest hit areas was Rolling Fork, a predominantly Black town of about 2,000 residents that has no public tornado shelter.
• Between March 3 and March 3, 2023, high winds and tornadoes caused widespread damage to homes, vehicles, businesses, and government buildings and infrastructure across several southern and eastern states including Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio.

In 2022, Tornado And Associated Severe Weather Events, Not Including Tropical Storms Or Hurricanes, Caused At Least $11.9 Billion In Damages And 8 Deaths:

• In March 2022, an outbreak of 83 tornadoes hit the Gulf Coast states including Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.
  • There were three EF-3, nine EF-2 and more than 75 EF-1 and EF-0 tornadoes. 
  • Washington County, Arkansas experienced one of the EF-3 tornadoes that damaged an elementary school, homes, businesses and buildings at the Springdale Municipal Airport. 
  • Another EF-3 tornado impacted Washington County, Florida with winds of 150 MPH and caused heavy damage to homes, vehicles, and infrastructure.
• From April 4-6, 2022, there was a tornado outbreak across Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina.
  • On April 5, 2022, Pembroke, Georgia was hit by an EF-4 tornado with winds of 185 MPH that destroyed several neighborhoods.
• On April 11, 2022, tornadoes and damaging hail was focused across central Arkansas causing damage to homes, vehicles, outbuildings, and farms and vegetation. 
• April 12 and 13, 2022, produced widespread high wind reports and dozens of tornadoes across central Mississippi, northeast Arkansas and west-central Kentucky.
  • These tornadoes produced damage to homes, businesses, farms, outbuildings and other infrastructure.
• In May 2022, there were more than two dozen tornadoes that impacted eastern South Dakota and central Minnesota causing damage to homes, vehicles, businesses, agriculture, and other infrastructure.
• In July 2022, severe weather with high winds and 19 tornadoes impacted numerous states including North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland ,and New York.
  • Many homes, businesses, vehicles, agriculture and other infrastructure were damaged.

In 2021, Tornado And Associated Severe Weather Events, Not Including Tropical Storms Or Hurricanes, Caused At Least $8.9 Billion In Damages And 104 Deaths:

• On December 15, 2021, a rare, record-breaking December derecho (fast-moving line of severe storms) and tornado outbreak that was focused across Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin caused $1.8 billion in damages and 1 death.
  • There were many reports of hurricane-force thunderstorm wind gusts and more than 50 tornadoes causing widespread damage to homes, vehicles, businesses and infrastructure.
  • This was the first December derecho on record to occur within the United States. This event also produced the first December tornado on record in Minnesota since 1950.
• On December 10, 2021, a historic December tornado outbreak across several southeast and central states caused $4 billion in devastating damages and 93 deaths.
  • This outbreak produced two long-tracked EF-4 tornadoes across Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky. The longest tornado track was nearly 166 miles across Kentucky and a small portion of Tennessee.
  • This day was also the deadliest December tornado outbreak recorded in the United States with 93 deaths.
• In May 2021, tornadoes and severe storms with widespread high wind and large hail caused $1.3 billion in damages across many Southern and Southeastern states including Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee.
  • There were over 111 confirmed tornadoes largely clustered in central Mississippi and surrounding states.
  • The tornado outbreak also led to 4 deaths.
• In March 2021, at least 41 tornadoes, including one EF-4, four EF-3s, ten EF-2s and approximately two-dozen EF-1 or EF-0 tornadoes, caused $1.8 billion in damages and led to 6 deaths in several states including Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia.

Threats To Critical Infrastructure

• Tornadoes can have devastating impacts on water and wastewater utility infrastructure systems:
  • Tornadoes can severely damage water  infrastructure, including storage tanks, hydrants, residential plumbing fixtures, and distribution systems, resulting in loss of service and/or reduced pressure throughout the system.
  • Debris and damaged roadways from tornadoes can restrict access to water facilities.
  • Tornadoes can cause a loss of power and communication lines.
  • Damage to water infrastructure from tornadoes can result in potential water contamination due to chemical leaks from ruptured containers.
  • Damage to water infrastructure from tornadoes can cause severe water and pressure loss due to ruptured service lines in damaged buildings and broken fire hydrants from airborne debris.
• The zone of the country most susceptible to tornadoes, known as “Tornado Alley,” may be shifting eastward due to climate change. These new at-risk areas are more densely populated and the majority of homes were not built to withstand strong tornadoes.

How Infrastructure Investments Can Help

• When rebuilding homes in tornado-prone areas, or when considering new construction, weatherization can reduce the harshest impacts of tornadoes.
  • Creating load path continuity from the roof-to-wall connections through to the floor-to-foundation connections and installing laminated windows to minimize airborne missiles are some ways in which buildings can be strengthened against tornado impacts.
  • The risk to buildings and homes in tornado alley could be lessened with upgrades to the mechanical connections that attach roofs to walls, walls to floors, and floors to a building’s foundation. Current building codes in tornado alley require connections be made with only nails, but metal connectors could be used for optimal strength and wind resistance, up to 130-135 mph.
  • Construction of a reinforced area, a shelter of sorts, is recommended in buildings such as schools in order to save lives.