Tornadoes, intense storms, and remnants of hurricanes have wrought severe damage to communities across New York state so far this year.
Since January, New York has been hit by eight climate and weather disasters that each caused more than $1 billion in damages across the country, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which tracks these so-called “billion-dollar disasters”. Many events affect several states.
This year has already set a new record for the number of these large-scale disasters to affect New York since records began in 1980. The previous record was set last year, when seven disaster events that each cost over $1 billion nationally hit the state.
“The frequency of these events that cause a lot of insured losses are increasing through time,” said Arthur DeGaetano, director of the Northeast Regional Climate Center and a professor of earth and atmospheric sciences at Cornell University. Climate change is fueling at least some of the uptick, he added.
The disasters that have hit New York this year include six severe storms — more than any prior year.
It is unclear whether increases in storm events, including tornadoes, are linked to climate change, said DeGaetano. But warmer temperatures have led to more energy in some storm systems and more variability in where and when storms occur.
Scientists also know that climate change is making other weather events, like heat waves and flooding, more common.
Though the number of costly weather events to hit New York this year may be particularly high, DeGaetano said the state should prepare for more destructive weather events in the future.
The uptick in expensive disasters comes as environmental advocates wait to see if Governor Kathy Hochul will sign the Climate Change Superfund Act.
The legislation would require large oil and gas companies to pay for infrastructure upgrades to help the state better withstand severe weather, raising $3 billion annually.
“The billion-dollar disasters that are impacting New York and the country, those costs are just going to keep going up,” said Blair Horner, executive director of the New York Public Interest Research Group “Right now, the public policy of New York state is to make the taxpayers eat the whole thing. We think that that's wrong.”
The bill passed the state Legislature in the final hours of the session in June. Hochul has until the end of the year to sign it into law.