NOAA will cease updating its “billion dollar disaster” tally that critics say is flawed

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will no longer update its tally of weather and climate-related disasters that produce more than $1 billion in damage. 

“In alignment with evolving priorities, statutory mandates, and staffing changes, NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) will no longer be updating the Billion Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters product,” the agency states in a banner on the top of the website housing the data. 

When the annual updates were posted, they received widespread media attention, portraying the rising cost of damages as an indication that the weather is becoming more extreme. The tally is often cited by climate policymakers and climate activists calling for regulations.

Dr. Roger Pielke Jr., retired professor of environmental studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, published a study in Nature last summer, arguing that the methodology NOAA uses in the tally lacks scientific integrity. 

NOAA responded to the study in August, saying it “will take actions to improve the documentation and transparency of the data set for greater compliance with NOAA’s Information Quality Guidelines.”

According to the announcement, all past reports from 1980 to 2025 and their underlying data will remain authoritative, archived, and available online.