was 34.8☏, 2.1☏ above average and ranked among the warmest third of the historical record. The December average temperature for the contiguous U.S. The cumulative costs for these 219 events exceed $1.5 trillion. has sustained 219 weather and climate disasters where the overall damage costs reached or exceeded $1 billion. In the 38-year period of record, the U.S. billion-dollar wildfires as a single, seasonal event. However, 2017 arguably has more events than 2011 given that our analysis traditionally counts all U.S. There were a record-tying 16 weather and climate disasters with losses exceeding $1 billion during 2017 including three tropical cyclones, eight severe storms, two inland floods, a crop freeze, drought and wildfires causing a total of 362 direct fatalities among these events. The USCEI is an index that tracks extremes (falling in the upper or lower 10 percent of the record) in temperature, precipitation, drought and landfalling tropical cyclones across the contiguous U.S. On the national scale, extremes in warm maximum and minimum temperatures, one-day precipitation totals, days with precipitation and landfalling tropical cyclones contributed to the elevated USCEI. Climate Extremes Index (USCEI) for 2017 was the second highest value in the 108-year period record at more than double the average. Dryness returned to the South in late 2017 with drought developing and expanding – especially in the Southwest, Southern Plains, Lower Mississippi Valley and Southeast. Lingering drought from 2016 in the Southeast persisted into early 2017, but beneficial precipitation helped eliminate drought conditions by summer. However, the wet winter allowed vegetation to flourish creating an abundance of fuels for wildfires during the subsequent dry season.Ī dry spring and summer set the stage for a rapidly expanding and intensifying drought in the Northern Plains, causing widespread agricultural impacts with total losses exceeding $1 billion. Heavy precipitation during the winter season caused significant flooding and record high snowpack across the West and helped to end a multiyear drought impacting California and Nevada. The drought footprint reached a low of 4.5 percent in late May, the smallest drought footprint in the 18-year period of record for the U.S.
Drought Monitor, the year began and ended with about one-quarter of the contiguous U.S. Numerous tributaries of the Mississippi River had record high crests, breaching levees with widespread damage to homes, businesses, infrastructure and agriculture.ĭrought conditions changed dramatically throughout 2017. Another heavy rain event impacted the Mid-Mississippi Valley in April and May. Rainfall totals exceeded 60 inches in parts of Texas with devastating floods across the Houston metro area. Several large-scale flooding events impacted the nation during 2017 including the record-shattering rainfall across Texas and Louisiana associated with Category 4 Hurricane Harvey – the first major hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. Below-average precipitation was observed in parts of the Southwest, Northern Rockies and Northern Plains. Michigan had its wettest year on record with 39.23 inches of precipitation, 8.10 inches above average. This made 2017 the 20th wettest year on record for the nation, and the fifth consecutive year with above-average precipitation.Ībove-average precipitation was observed across the nation with much-wetter-than-average conditions across parts of the West and the Great Lakes region. average annual precipitation was 32.21 inches, which is 2.27 inches above the long-term average. Hurricane Maria now ranks as the third costliest weather and climate disaster on record for the nation and Irma ranks as the fifth costliest. Hurricanes Maria and Irma had total costs of $90 billion and $50 billion, respectively. Hurricane Harvey had total costs of $125 billion, second only to Hurricane Katrina in the 38-year period of record for billion-dollar disasters. Some of the more noteworthy events included the western wildfire season, with total costs of $18 billion, tripling the previous U.S. The number of events (16) ties 2011 for most billion-dollar disasters in a single year. was 2005 with losses of $215 billion driven in large part by Hurricanes Katrina, Wilma and Rita. experienced 16 weather and climate disasters with losses exceeding $1 billion, with total costs of approximately $306 billion – a new U.S. have all occurred since 2006.ĭuring the year, the U.S. The five warmest years on record for the contiguous U.S. This was the third warmest year since record keeping began in 1895, behind 2012 (55.3☏) and 2016 (54.9☏), and the 21st consecutive warmer-than-average year for the U.S. was 54.6☏, 2.6☏ above the 20th century average. Based on preliminary analysis, the average annual temperature for the contiguous U.S.
0 kommentar(er)
