2011 had some pretty ridiculous weather and ended up a historic extreme weather year. 811 inches of snow in Squaw Valley, extreme drought, monster floods, EF-5 tornados, wildfires, heat waves, hurricanes, & big snow in big cities. There were 12 extreme weather situations in 2011 that caused $1 billion damages or more. The most being $10.2 billion, the least being right around $1 billion. Lives, property, and futures were lost. It was a remarkable year for extreme weather and Noaa.gov is working on improving warning systems to protect life and property.
#1 – Ground Hog Day Blizzard in East/Northeast
– January 29th- February 3rd
– 2 Feet of snow in Chicago
– 36 Deaths
– $1.8+ billion in damages
#2 – Midwest/Southeast Tornadoes (April 4-5)
– 46 Tornadoes in Central & Southern States
– 9 deaths
– $2.8+ billion in damages
#3 – Southeast/Midwest Tornadoes (April 8-11)
– 56 tornadoes in Central & Southern States
– 0 deaths
– $2.2+ billion in damages
#4 – Midwest/Southeast Tornadoes (April 14-18)
– 177 tornadoes in Central & Southern States
– 38 deaths (22 in North Carolina)
– $2.1 billion in damages
#5 – Southeast/Ohio Valley/Midwest Tornadoes
– April 25th – 28th
– 343 tornadoes in Central & Southern States
– EF- 5 tornado touched down in Northern Alabama killing 78
– 321 deaths (240 in Alabama)
– $10.2+ billion in damages
#6 – Joplin, MO Tornado & More (May 22-27)
– 180 tornadoes in Central & Southern States
– EF-5 hit Joplin, Missouri & killed 158 ( It was the deadliest single tornado to strike the U.S. since modern tornado record-keeping began in 1950)
– 177 deaths
– $9.1+ billion in damages
#7 – Midwest/Southeast Tornadoes & Severe Weather
– June 22-28th
– 81 tornadoes in Central States & damaging wind and hail in the Southeast States
– 3 deaths
– $1.3 billion in damages
#8 – Southern Plains & Southwest Drought & Heatwave
– Drought & severe heat in Drought Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, southern Kansas, and western Louisiana.
– $10 billion in damage via crops, livestock, & timber
#9 – Mississippi Flooding
– Spring-summer
– 300% of normal rainfall in Ohio Valley + snowmelt caused historic flooding
– $3-4 billion in damages
#10 – Upper Midwest Flooding
– Missouri & Souris rivers flooded due to above average Northern Rocky Mountain snowpack melt + above average rainfall
– 11,000 people evacuated
– 4,000 homes flooded
– Many levees ruptured
– 5 deaths
– $2+ billion in damages in USA & $1+ billion damages in Canadia.
#11 – Hurricane Irene
– August 20-29th
– Made landfall as a Category 1 Hurricane in North Carolina before moving north up the East Coast
– Final landfall in New York City caused major rainfalls that delivered more damage
– Trees & downed power lines caused widespread moderate to severe damage
– Vermont ski resorts and communities hit hard
– 7 millions homes without power
– 45 deaths
– “Irene was the first hurricane to hit the U.S. since Ike in September 2008 and was the most significant tropical system to make a direct landfall in the Northeast since Hurricane Bob in 1991.” – noaa.gov
– $7.3+ billion in damages
#12 – Texas, New Mexico, Arizona Wildfires
– Spring-Fall
– Drought & heat set up perfect conditions for historic wildfires in the Southwest
– Bastrop Fire in Texas was the most destructive in Texas history, destroying 1,500+ homes
– Las Conchas Fire in New Mexico was states largest wildfire, burning 150,000+ acres and damn near burned University of California’s Los Alamos Laboratory where they made “The Bomb.”
– 3 million acres burned in total in Texas
– $750 million in damages just in Texas
– 5 deaths
– $1+ billion in total damages