Trump admin ends extreme weather database (tracked cost of disasters since 1980)

a year ago

NOAA is retiring its 'billion-dollar weather and climate disasters' database, making it difficult to track extreme weather costs.
The database, archived but not updated beyond 2024, has tracked disaster costs since 1980, including hurricanes and hailstorms.
Discontinuation is seen as a Trump-administration move reducing public insight into climate change impacts.
NOAA is cutting other services due to staffing reductions, with climate programs under scrutiny.
The database showed 403 disasters since 1980, totaling over $2.945 trillion, with an average of 24 disasters annually in recent years.
Private and non-public data sources made the database unique and hard to replicate.
Other reports, like Swiss Re's, indicate rising global insured losses, with a 5-7% annual growth rate.
NOAA faces deeper budget cuts, including potential elimination of its research division and labs.

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