Temporal Changes in Extremely Damaging Storms

Records of extremely damaging storms in the United States during the years 1949-2006 were assessed to define their temporal distribution. A change in climate due to global warming may lead to more weather extremes, including storms. The objective of this study was to learn if the frequency of highly damaging storms, those causing >$100 million and >$1 billion in property losses, had increased. The number of storms at both loss levels has increased dramatically since 1990, and storm-related losses also increased. Much of the increased loss and greater storminess was due to several recent hurricanes, which caused losses >$1 billion. Four possible explanations are raised. First, storm measurement and data collection have improved over time. The increases may also reflect natural variations in climate or a shift in climate due to global warming. A fourth reason is that society has become more vulnerable to storm damages.