People talk a lot about how much it will cost to prevent global warming, what they don’t realize is that there is a big cost to doing nothing as well. Most scientists estimate the cost of doing nothing to actually be far bigger than the cost to clean up our act. They also tell us that global warming will cause the amount and severity of many damaging weather events to increase.

You might hear about giant weather events. There have been a bunch lately. So many in fact that it is hard to keep track of every weather event that kills people or costs money, and not every weather event is due to global warming, so perhaps its only worth looking at the really big events. Say things that cost more than a billion dollars. Lucky for us NOAA keeps a list.

Notice a trend? As America gets more developed in traditionally empty areas of the country and as climate change ramps up, the cost both in lives and money is growing rapidly.

And here is a taste of just those extreme weather events in 2009 that cost more than a billion dollars.

2009
Southwest/Great Plains Drought Entire year, 2009. Drought conditions occurred during
much of the year across parts of the Southwest, Great Plains, and southern Texas causing agricultural losses in numerous states (TX, OK, KS, CA, NM, AZ). The largest agriculture losses occurred in TX and CA. Estimate of over $5.0 billion in damages/costs.

Western Wildfires Summer-Fall 2009. Residual and sustained drought conditions across western and south-central states resulted in thousands of wildfires. Most affected states include CA, AZ, NM,
TX, OK, and UT. National acreage burned exceeding 5.9 million. Over 200 homes and structures
destroyed in the California “Station” fire alone. Over $1.0 billion in damages/costs (including annual
fire suppression costs); 10 deaths.

Midwest, South and Eastern Severe Weather June 2009. Sustained outbreak of thunderstorms and high winds from a strong derecho event over the central, southern, and eastern states (TX, OK, MO, NE, KS, AR, AL, MS, TN, NC, SC, KY, PA). Over $1.1 billion in damages/costs; no deaths
reported.

South/Southeast Tornadoes and Severe Weather April 2009. Outbreak of tornadoes, hail and severe thunderstorms over the south and southeastern states (AL, AR, GA, KY, MO, SC, TN) with 85
confirmed tornadoes. Over $1.2 billion in damages/costs; 6 deaths.

Midwest/Southeast Tornadoes March 2009. Outbreak of tornadoes over central and southern states (NE, KS, OK, IA, TX, LA, MS, AL, GA, TN, KY) with 56 tornadoes confirmed. Over $1.0 billion
in damages/costs with majority of damage in TX; no deaths reported.

Southeast/Ohio Valley Severe Weather February 2009. Complex of severe thunderstorms and high winds across the region (TN, KY, OK, OH, VA, WV, PA). Over $1.4 billion in damages/costs with
majority of damage in OK and OH; 10 deaths.

For the entire list going back to 1980 click here (pdf)

In total (of weather events that cost over 1 billion) since 1980 have cost the US over 700 BILLION dollars. It has also killed tens of thousands of people. With most climate models showing extreme weather on the rise due to global warming, these numbers will only get worse and worse. The time to begin acting to solve the problem of global warming has already passed, we are now playing catch up.