The United States experienced 23 billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in 2025, resulting in 276 deaths and $115 billion in damages, according to Climate Central. This marked the 15th straight year of above-average events, with disasters occurring every 10 days on average. The year began with devastating wildfires in Los Angeles and included severe storms and tornadoes across multiple regions.
The year 2025 brought a relentless series of extreme weather events to the United States, as detailed in a new analysis by Climate Central. Starting with the costliest wildfires in American history, blazes ravaged Los Angeles for nearly the entire month of January, causing $61.2 billion in damages—more than half of the year's total losses. These fires triggered a public health crisis, with hundreds likely dying from toxic smoke inhalation, exacerbating conditions like heart and cardiovascular disease as plastics and metals burned.
Severe storms battered the South and Northeast, while tornadoes struck central states, hail hit Texas and Colorado, and drought plus heat waves affected the West. Of the 23 events, 21 involved tornadoes, hail, or high winds, making 2025 the second-most costly year for severe storms after 2023. The warmer atmosphere, holding more moisture, intensified rainfall and flooding, with the hot Gulf of Mexico adding fuel to southern storms.
Climate change amplified these disasters, worsening wildfires, heavier rains, and stronger hurricanes, though no major hurricanes made U.S. landfall due to an atmospheric barrier over the Southeast. This luck kept costs from potentially doubling to $215 billion. Still, the Atlantic season was intense: five hurricanes formed, 80% reaching major strength—double the typical rate—and it was the second year with at least three Category 5 storms. Hurricane Melissa, which devastated the Caribbean, intensified rapidly from 70 mph to 140 mph winds in 18 hours, fueled by record ocean temperatures made hundreds of times more likely by climate change.
Human factors, like expansion into wildland-urban interfaces, compounded the destruction. In May, the Trump administration halted updates to NOAA's billion-dollar disaster database, prompting Climate Central to revive it in October. "The continuation of this dataset... is important because it helps demonstrate the economic impact of extreme weather," said Adam Smith, senior climate impacts scientist at Climate Central. He noted that estimates remain conservative, excluding unmeasurable losses like mental health trauma. Since 1980, the U.S. has seen 426 such disasters totaling over $3.1 trillion, with events now averaging every 16 days in the last decade, down from 82 days in the 1980s.
Smith emphasized enhancing the database for better policymaking: "By this time next year... it'll be even a much more useful and helpful data resource."
