An analysis of billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in the United States released today by Climate Central determined that 2025 brought the third highest annual number of costly calamities—ranking just behind 2023 and 2024—that caused at least 276 deaths and $115 billion in damages. This week also marks the one-year anniversary of the destructive Los Angeles wildfires, which killed 31 people and is the most expensive set of wildfires on record.
This trend of increasingly deadly and expensive disasters is occurring as the Trump administration continues to defund and cut staff at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the nation’s foremost science agency whose mission includes tracking and studying weather and climate, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that prepares for, responds to, and helps communities recover from disasters.
NOAA had previously maintained the database tracking the costs of major weather and climate-related disasters, but the Trump administration discontinued that federal database last May. Dr. Adam Smith, a climate impacts scientist who led that research program for NOAA, is now doing the analysis and maintaining the database for Climate Central.
As the cost of disasters caused by severe weather continues to trend well above average, scientific data is showing that the last three years were the hottest on record according to global weather data going back to 1850. It is expected that 2025 will rank second or third behind only 2024 and maybe 2023 in terms of global average temperatures when official data is released for the year.
Below is a statement by Dr. Rachel Cleetus, senior policy director with the Climate and Energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS):
“Our nation is facing a mounting toll from extreme weather disasters, including increasingly catastrophic storms, floods and wildfires made worse by climate change. It’s more important than ever that we have robust scientific information and the proper federal resources in place to prepare communities for extreme weather and respond to disasters. Instead, the Trump administration is abdicating its responsibility to protect Americans by taking a sledgehammer to critical federal agencies like NOAA and FEMA.
“Families across the nation are still reeling from previous disasters, including the horrific LA wildfires and Hurricanes Helene and Milton, even as the threat of future disasters grows. The financial toll of disasters is particularly harsh for people living with low incomes and communities repeatedly hit by extreme climate events. Severe weather intensified by climate change is also contributing to rising property insurance costs, making insurance increasingly unaffordable and hard to get in many places.
“As a nation, we must invest much more in resilience measures as well as sharply cut the heat-trapping emissions driving climate change. This administration has instead clawed back funding for climate resilience projects, politicized disaster aid, and is doing its utmost to boost fossil fuels and worsen the climate crisis. Congress must step up to oppose these harmful actions and help keep people safe.”
Additional UCS experts who can discuss the worsening impacts of extreme disasters and the Trump administration’s harmful actions to attack NOAA, FEMA and other federal agencies, as well as the National Science Foundation National Center for Atmospheric Research (NSF NCAR):
- Dr. Carlos Martinez, a senior climate scientist at UCS. He is based in Washington, D.C. Click here to view his biography.
- Zoe Middleton, the associate director of just climate resilience at UCS. She is based in Houston, Texas. Click here to view her biography.
- Shana Udvardy, a senior climate resilience policy analyst at UCS. She is based in Washington, D.C. Click here to view her biography.
Additional Resources:
- Letter from scientists to Congress against attacks to NOAA.
- UCS blog: “What if Disaster strikes as FEMA is Debilitated by the Trump Administration.”
- UCS blog: “Secretary Noem’s FEMA Review Council Report Likely to Continue President Trump’s Heartless Policies.”