This figure provides 10-year estimates of fatalities related to extreme events from 2004 to 2013, as well as estimated economic damages from 58 weather and climate disaster events with losses exceeding $1 billion. These statistics are indicative of the human and economic costs of extreme weather events over this time period. Climate change will alter the frequency, intensity, and geographic distribution of some of these extremes, which has consequences for exposure to health risks from extreme events. Trends and future projections for some extremes, including tornadoes, lightning, and wind storms, are still uncertain.
This figure appears in chapter 4 of the report "The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States: A Scientific Assessment." See Smith and Katz 2013 to understand how total losses were calculated. This figure was derived from dataset noaa-nws-us-natural-hazard-statistics using the activity estimated-noaa-nws-us-natural-hazard-statistics--process and from dataset noaa-ncdc-billion-dollar-weather-climate-disasters using the activity estimated-noaa-ncdc-billion-dollar-weather-climate-disasters--process.