Why Trump's Plan to Stop Tallying Weather Losses Matters to the Insurance Industry
NOAA's billion-dollar disaster list provides a crucial metric for tracking rising damages tied to climate change and development.
By and Brian K Sullivan
Save
Extreme weather is an increasingly expensive problem in the US. Last year, fires, droughts and storms caused more than $182 billion in damages — but going forward, the federal government won't be keeping track.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, announced Thursday it will 'retire' its popular database of climate and weather disasters that caused at least $1 billion in damage, a move that follows the Trump administration's efforts to scrub environmental data across the federal government.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBS News
17 minutes ago
- CBS News
Flames rip through two-flat in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood
Tall flames shot through a two-flat in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood Monday evening. Video showed fire on the canopied porch and spreading to the upper level of the brick apartment house in the 6600 block of South Laflin Street — near Marquette Road. Firefighters arrived at the scene to put out the flames. The building appeared to have sustained extensive damage. It was not immediately learned how the fire started or if anyone was hurt.
CBS News
an hour ago
- CBS News
Lathrop Irrigation District, PG&E speak on power outage over hot weekend
LATHROP -- Rising temperatures mean more air conditioning. For hundreds of residents in Lathrop's River Islands, they had to sweat it out over this weekend's high heat. "Everyone was able to freeze their water, or go out to the pool, or make other arrangements -- so it's pretty good," Donna Cunningham said. "It always seems to happen on the hottest day of the year though," Frank Cunningham added. For about nine hours on Saturday, residents didn't have power. According to Lathrop Irrigation District (LID), this was a test of their switch at their substation that powers the relatively new development of River Islands. The test is federally mandated and happens once every five to six years. Its purpose is essential. "It keeps all our stuff safe in our switch yards," LID General Manager Erik Jones explained. "That way our power isn't interrupted if there are surge fires, whatever kind of keeps it, you know, safe for us. They have to test those. Usually it's every five, six years, but it's a federally mandated test." According to LID, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) reached out to them earlier this year, saying they needed time to test the switch. With Lathrop only having one switch, they didn't have a choice but to shut off power for hours. That outage was scheduled months in advance, and it just so happened to land on a weekend with scorching temperatures. "It was either a Thursday or Memorial Day. Obviously, because of Memorial Day, the weather was a lot nicer, but there's a lot that's a big holiday and it would have been probably a lot worse if we chose that day," Jones said. CBS Sacramento reached out to PG&E about the timing of the outage. They sent a statement reading: "Our preference was to conduct this work in the evening when it is cooler in order to have the least amount of impact on our customers." Why wasn't the outage delayed? LID said that by the time it got PG&E's request, they had already sent out their 30-day notice to residents and didn't want to postpone the test later into the hot summer months. "We have to notify within 30 days of any interruptions, if we can," Jones explained. "We tried to give the best warning we could. When they scheduled the day of May 31, who knew it was gonna be 105 that day? It's just the way Mother Nature works this time." LID was able to turn the power back on before the original outage timeline. As of right now, there are no other outages planned.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
The 2025 Atlantic hurricane season is underway
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — June 1 was a busy day for the weather community. It was the first day of meteorological summer, as well as the first day of the Atlantic hurricane season. The hurricane season officially lasts from June 1 until Nov. 30, although it is not uncommon for there to be periods of inactivity throughout the season. Mid-August to late September is generally when the Atlantic is most active with hurricanes, climatologically peaking on Sept. 10, which is the period when the conditions to form hurricanes are most favorable. In Western New York, why is this information relevant? Hurricanes are known to bring catastrophic damage to coastal states like Florida, but once they make landfall, if they have enough energy, their remnants — which can include heavy rainfall, tornado outbreaks, and strong winds — can affect inland states. 2024 was a strong example of this phenomenon. July 2024 brought a tornado outbreak to Western New York. Four tornadoes touched down in Chautauqua and Erie counties, the strongest being recorded at an EF-1 strength with maximum winds of 110 miles per hour. This outbreak was due to remnants of Hurricane Beryl, which tracked from Texas to New York and produced 68 confirmed tornadoes along its path. Another example of hurricane effects inland is Hurricane Helene, whose remnants brought devastating impacts to Western North Carolina. One hundred sixteen fatalities and $53 billion in damages due to catastrophic flooding made this the deadliest tropical system in the state's recorded history. Although the 2025 season has just started, it has been pretty quiet so far. Only one tropical disturbance has been noted and it was not named. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has forecasted 2025 to be a very active season, with three to five major hurricanes included in that forecast. Sara Stierly is a meteorologist who joined the 4 Warn Weather team in February 2025. See more of her work here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
