The National Climatic Data Center, which is an integral part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has released its preliminary findings on the 11 major weather and climate events that impacted the United States in 2012 and have reached the $1 billion threshold in losses. The 11 events comprise seven severe weather and tornado events, two tropical storms and hurricane events, and the yearlong drought and associated wildfires.

The eleven events include:

• Southeast and Ohio Valley tornadoes — March 2–3 2012
• Texas tornadoes — April 2–3 2012
• Great Plains tornadoes — April 13–14 2012
• Midwest and Ohio Valley severe weather — April 28–May 1 2012
• Southern Plains, Midwest, and Northeast severe weather — May 25–30 2012
• Rockies and Southwest severe weather — June 6–12 2012
• Plains, East, and Northeast severe weather (“Derecho”) — June 29–July 2 2012
• Hurricane Isaac — August 26–31 2012
• Western wildfires — Summer–Fall, 2012
• Hurricane Sandy — October 29–31 2012
• U.S. drought and heat wave — throughout 2012

The NOAA website states that “Economic losses for two events, Sandy and the yearlong drought, are the big drivers this year in terms of costs and are still being calculated. It will take months to develop a final, reliable estimate for each. Given how big these events are likely to be, NOAA estimates 2012 will surpass 2011 (exceeding $60 billion, consumer price index [CPI]-adjusted to 2012 dollars) in terms of aggregate costs for annual billion-dollar disasters, even with less number of disasters.” The greatest annual loss to date was 2005, when Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Wilma, and Dennis struck Florida and the Gulf Coast states. According to the National Climatic Data center, in 2005, costs exceeded $187 billion, CPI-adjusted to 2012 dollars.