Extreme heat was the deadliest weather condition in the United States in 2023, resulting in a total of 207 lives lost that year. This was followed by fire weather, having caused 103 fatalities. On the other side of the spectrum, only one life was lost due to ice in the North American country that year.

In 2024, 568 people died due to weather disaster events in the United States. During the previous decade (2010-2019), 5,227 fatalities were reported caused by billion-dollar climate and weather disasters.

Winter weather-related deaths amounted to 1,541 instances in the United States between 2009 to 2019. This was a 93 percent increase compared to the previous decade. Wildfire deaths have seen the largest rate of growth in the U.S. with a 160 percent increase.

From 1980 to 1989, the number of deaths due to climate disasters was about 667 thousand, the highest in recent years. In the following decade, the number of deaths dropped to 329 thousand. After 2010, the number of deaths due to climate disasters dropped to 185 thousand, down by 140 thousand from the previous decade.

46 (number) in 2023.

This dataset consists of the number of deaths due to heatwaves reported by different agencies/organizations. These are listed below: 1. MoES: Ministry of Earth Sciences gives data on deaths due to extreme weather events every year, including deaths due to heatwaves. This data is available since 2010. For years lacking data, it suggests that no heat wave-related deaths occurred during that period. 2. National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)'s Accidental Deaths and Suicides India report: Data on heat stroke deaths reported by police departments at state level is presented in the report, which has been collated in the dataset. This data has been included in the dataset since 2013. 3. MoHFW: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare started recording the figures since 2015.

Between 1980 and 2023, there were a total of 16,350 deaths associated with billion-dollar weather and climate disasters across the United States. Tropical cyclones such as hurricanes were some of the most deadly events, contributing to nearly 6,900 deaths during that period.

66 (number) in 2023.

1 (number) in 2023.

In 2023, storms caused nearly 15,000 deaths across the globe. the third-largest figure recorded since 1990. In the past three decades, the highest annual deathtoll due to storms was registered in 1991, when storm events were responsible for the death of more than 146 thousand people worldwide. That year, a massive cyclone hit Bangladesh, becoming one of the deadliest storms of the century. The death count due to storms was also remarkably high in 2008, mainly associated with a cyclone which hit Myanmar in May.

272 (number) in 2023.

244 (number) in 2023.

Open-file report; contains unpublished data that has not yet been peer-reviewed.

Flash flooding is the top weather-related killer, responsible for an average of 140 deaths per year across the United States. Although precipitation forecasting and understanding of flash flood causes have improved in recent years, there are still many unknown factors that play into flash flooding. Despite having accurate and timely rainfall reports, some river basins simply do not respond to rainfall as meteorologists might expect. The Flash Flood Potential Index (FFPI) was developed in order to gain insight into these “problem basins”, giving National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologists insight into the intrinsic properties of a river basin and the potential for swift and copious rainfall runoff.The goal of the FFPI is to quantitatively describe a given sub-basin’s risk of flash flooding based on its inherent, static characteristics such as slope, land cover, land use and soil type/texture. It leverages both Geographic Information Systems (GIS) as well as datasets from various sources. By indexing a given sub-basin’s risk of flash flooding, the FFPI allows the user to see which subbasins are more predisposed to flash flooding than others. Thus, the FFPI can be added to the situational awareness tools which can be used to help assess flash flood risk.

Lightning and thunderstorms were the leading cause for extreme weather event-related deaths in India in 2022, with 1,285 recorded fatalities. Other extreme weather events that resulted in several lives lost were floods and heavy rains. Thunder and lightning in India

India is amongst the leading countries in terms of annual lightning strikes. Lightning is the result of an electric discharge between clouds or between clouds and the earth. The warmer temperatures experienced during India’s monsoon season facilitate the quick formation of clouds that create suitable conditions for these lightning strikes. Sadly, there are many deaths attributed to lightning strikes every year across the country.

Effects of extreme weather in India

The average annual economic damage due to climate-related events in India approached 90 billion U.S. dollars in recent years. In addition to financial losses and physical damage, the loss of life caused by extreme weather affects all parts of the country. Strikingly, a survey conducted across the South Asian country found that most Indians believed that they would be affected by a major natural disaster.

Comparison of fit for models of the relation of heat-related EMS calls and ED visits and non-external cause mortality.

14 (number) in 2023.

Dataset on risk factors for fisher drowning deaths collected in 43 landing sites across the Kenyan shore of Lake Victoria using verbal autopsy.Publication: Rasolofoson, R.A., H.O. Onyango, F.J. Awuor, C.M. Aura and K.J. Fiorella 2024. Climate change: a pointer to increased small-scale fisher drowning deaths. PLOS ONE. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0302397.

22 (number) in 2023.

We examine the impact of temperature on mortality in Mexico using daily data over the period 1998-2017 and find that 3.8 percent of deaths in Mexico are caused by suboptimal temperature (26,000 every year). However, 92 percent of weather-related deaths are induced by cold (<12°C) or mildly cold (12-20°C) days and only 2 percent by outstandingly hot days (>32°C). Furthermore, temperatures are twice more likely to kill people in the bottom half of the income distribution. Finally, we show causal evidence that the Seguro Popular, a universal healthcare policy, has saved at least 1,600 lives per year from cold weather since 2004.