The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has announced that the country has experienced 25 weather or climate-related “disasters” this year, which have resulted in damages or losses surpassing $1 billion. This is the highest number of recorded events since the agency began keeping track 43 years ago.

In a report issued this week, NOAA said severe thunderstorms moving through Oklahoma and other southern Plains states September 23 and 24 brought high winds and large hail, causing enough damage to rank as the 25th weather disaster so far in 2023.

The organization reported that the disasters that occurred from January to October of this year consisted of 19 intense storms, two occurrences of flooding, a winter storm in the northeastern region of the United States, a period of drought and high temperatures in the central and southern states, one wildfire on Maui in August, and one tropical cyclone (Hurricane Idalia) in Florida.

According to NOAA, these incidents resulted in the loss of 464 lives and had a significant financial impact on the affected areas. The total damage costs from these events exceeded $73 billion. The current count for the year is higher than 2020, which had 19 disasters by October.

According to NOAA, the average number of disaster events per year between 1980 and 2022 was 8.1. However, in the most recent five years (2018-2022), the average has increased to 18 disasters per year.

According to NOAA, there have been 373 distinct weather and climate incidents in the United States since 1980 that have led to damages or expenses totaling $1 billion or more. The combined cost of these events has surpassed $2.645 trillion.