First half of 2025 was the costliest first 6 months of weather on record
A new report shows that the first six months of 2025 were the costliest on record for weather and climate disasters. The nonprofit news organization Climate Central said each of 14 weather events caused more than $1 billion in damage.
However, this information may not have been compiled if not for Climate Central. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) had tracked data on weather- and climate-related disasters for years. But in May, President Donald Trump announced the federal government would stop monitoring the cost of extreme weather.
What did the data show?
According to the report, the costs of weather and climate disasters continued to escalate from January through June 2025. The Los Angeles wildfires in January — the most expensive wildfire event on record — caused more than $60 billion in damage.
Adam Smith, who left NOAA after Trump cut the federal tracking program, said the data shows dangerous weather is becoming more frequent and intense. Smith now works for Climate Central to develop a new version of the now-discontinued federal database.
“This data set was simply too important to stop being updated,” he told The New York Times.
In addition to the Los Angeles wildfires, severe storms accounted for the rest of the extreme weather damage. Tornadoes, hail and flooding across the central and southern U.S. caused widespread damage, totaling $101.4 billion.
While the beginning of the year was busy, experts say the Atlantic hurricane season has been quiet. Researchers said if the U.S. gets past the season, which ends Dec. 1, without a major storm, it would give the country a break from what is usually a costly and brutal weather season.
Why did Trump stop tracking weather damage?
The weather cost program was politically polarizing. Many Republicans complained to NOAA officials that the program used “deceptive data.” In September, Democrats pushed for a bill that would require NOAA to again publish the data and update it twice a year. However, that bill has not moved in Congress and stands little chance of passing since Republicans control both chambers.
Trump officials said last month the program was too expensive and the data served “no decisional purpose and remains purely informational at best.”
“This data is often used to advance the narrative that climate change is making disasters more frequent, more extreme, and more costly,” officials said.
Trump has called climate change a “con job” and has cut funding for clean energy projects. He is also trying to strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
However, the vast majority — 97% — of scientists agree that humans are causing climate change. Most also say climate change is driving the increasing severity of storms and other natural disasters. Scientists in other fields, like quantum physics, hardly ever agree to that degree.
How could this impact states?
Some researchers have expressed concerns that the administration’s efforts to move away from measuring weather damage could affect the support states receive after a disaster.
Trump has said he wants to eventually shift the burden of disaster relief from the federal government onto the states. The administration appointed a committee to recommend changes to how the Federal Emergency Management Agency operates. The report is due by the end of November, coinciding with the end of hurricane season.
The post First half of 2025 was the costliest first 6 months of weather on record appeared first on Straight Arrow News.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
