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2022 U.S. Forecast — Lives don’t make a difference
More than 200 died last winter. More than 100 are dead this winter. Let’s just look away.
More than 200 people died when Texas froze last winter. Third-party estimates say the Texas government lowballed the death toll and the real number would be on the other side of 700. The economic toll of last year’s winter freeze is somewhere between $80 billion and $130 billion.
Record low temperatures were registered in Texas early this year. The temperature in Dallas, Austin, Houston, and San Antonio fell below temperatures in Anchorage, Alaska. City after city in Texas broke century-old records.
Hurricane Ida, the sixth costliest tropical cyclone to visit the United States, swept away 115 lives and $65 billion. “In terms of maximum sustained winds at landfall (150 mph (240 km/h)), Ida tied 2020’s Hurricane Laura and the 1856 Last Island hurricane as the strongest on record in” Louisiana.
Meteorologists are perplexed as they haven’t seen anything like the tornado that ripped through parts of Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, and Kentucky this weekend. Officials are still counting the bodies left behind by the deadliest December tornado on record.
It will be many months before we assess the full extent of the economic damages. It is likely to exceed $100 billion.
