Experienced an extreme weather event? We need our leaders to take more frequent and severe weather disasters seriously. Your story can help us show them why. Share your story:
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John,
The first half of 2025 was the costliest on record for extreme weather. In just six months, we had 14 "billion-dollar" weather disasters in the United States, taking 174 lives, tearing through communities, degrading our environment, and costing us $101.4 billion total.[1]
This is only the most recent evidence that extreme weather is more frequent, severe and costly than ever on record.
We need our elected leaders to get serious about a rational approach to our riskier reality. One way we can do that is by helping them put faces and names to the numbers of people impacted by these catastrophes.
Extreme heat, severe winter storms, tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires and more are all becoming more common and dangerous. Have you experienced extreme weather? Share your story.
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2025 is no anomaly. Between 2020 and 2024, the U.S. averaged 23 "billion-dollar" weather events each year, a more than three-fold increase over the 2000s, and almost seven times as many as the 1980s, when we first started keeping track.[2]
74% of Americans say they have experienced at least one form of extreme weather in the past year.[3] That number is staggering, but individual stories can be even more impactful. Personal narratives can break through the political gridlock and highlight the human cost of inaction.
Your voice can make a difference. Share your extreme weather story.
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Extreme weather is not just a coastal problem. In 2024, no region of the country avoided a "billion-dollar" disaster.
That means there is a broad and growing base of Americans who have been affected across every demographic and geographic line. We're working to uplift stories from people all across the country -- in red and blue states, in urban centers and rural towns, on the coasts and in landlocked areas.
By bringing these voices together, we can invite a conversation and compel leaders to adopt a better approach: one that is proactive about funding relief and recovery, and prioritizes preventative action to both prevent extreme weather from getting worse and mitigate the impacts of weather disasters that strike moving forward.
Stories are powerful tools to get our leaders and legislators to take action. Share your extreme weather story.
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Sincerely,
The team at Environment Colorado Research & Policy Center
1. "The first half of 2025 was the costliest six months of weather disasters on record," Environment America Research & Policy Center, November 4, 2025.
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2. "Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters," National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, last accessed November 20, 2025.
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3. Alec Tyson and Brian Kennedy, "Americans' Views on How to Address the Impacts of Extreme Weather," Pew Research Center, May 29, 2025.
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