A series of devastating hurricanes, wildfires and other extreme weather marked the third-warmest year on record in the contiguous United States.
Posted on Inside Climate News | By Nicholas Kusnetz
Hurricane Harvey’s extreme rainfall and the most devastating wildfire season on record contributed to $306 billion in damages from climate and weather disasters in the United States in 2017, shattering the previous record by more than $90 billion, according to a federal report released Monday.
Related – 2017 set a record for losses from natural disasters
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s recap of the nation’s climate over the past year found that 2017 was the third-warmest on record. What’s more, it was warmer than average in every state across the lower 48 and Alaska for the third consecutive year. (Hawaii is excluded because of a lack of historical data and other factors.)
“That’s pretty unusual,” said Jake Crouch, a climate scientist at NOAA and the lead author of the report.
Read entire article Climate and Weather Disasters Cost U.S. a Record $306 Billion in 2017 | Inside Climate News