Above, I asked Andrew Dessler about the damage potential from large hail and windstorms. Turns out it’s a very big deal.
Graph below from the New York Times illustrates Dessler’s point that, in years without a major landfalling hurricane, convective storms are accounting for a larger and larger chunk of insured damages.
Below, news report on storms in Northern Minnesota from June 12.
When you hear the phrase “billion-dollar disaster,” you probably think of something epic and nightmarish, like a Category 5 hurricane or a mammoth wildfire. But climate change means the next mega-destructive event could be something as mundane as a rainstorm.
Large swaths of South Florida were underwater this week after the sky turned into a firehose that flooded Miami and dumped 10 inches of rain on Fort Lauderdale in a day. It was the worst rainstorm in Fort Lauderdale … since the one in April 2023 that dumped more than 2 feet of rain in a day. That earlier storm did more than $1 billion in damage, and this one probably will, too. Governor Ron DeSantis, who has outlawed talking about climate change, declared a state of emergency in four Florida counties. Flights were canceled and parts of I-95 were closed.
he number of billion-dollar disasters in the US has soared in recent years, with a record 28 in 2023, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. There have been 11 so far this year, not counting Florida’s current supersoaker episode. None of this year’s storms have been cinematic, Day After Tomorrow-style catastrophes. They’ve mostly been storms on steroids, like the one that produced superpowered winds that blew out windows in downtown Houston last month. Nearly a third of the $250 billion in global disaster losses in 2023 were caused by thunderstorms, according to reinsurer Munich Re.
In news that will not shock you, climate change has something to do with this trend: A hotter atmosphere has more destructive energy, including the ability to soak up more water and dump it in torrential downpours. Physics tells us the atmosphere can hold 7% more water vapor for every degree Celsius it warms. The planet has warmed about 1.3C above preindustrial averages so far.
One of the fallen trees in the Minnesota video cracked across a rotten trunk. If you have biggish trees around your house, you need them to get regular checkups from tree pros, take out the ones that are unstable, or cable together splayed limbs.
[Workers taking out a big old tree in front of our house reported that chainsawing through a 15 inch caliper limb released gallons of water sitting inside the hollow. The rest of the crew got a kick out of it, at least.]