Four Decades of U.S. Wildfires (1983–2024)

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June 3, 2024 Graphics/Design:

See this visualization first on the Voronoi app.

Charted: Four Decades of U.S. Wildfires (1983–2024)

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A complex interplay of factors are leading to North America’s long wildfire season: increasing summer temperatures, erratic precipitation patterns, changing land use, and ironically, fire suppression practices.

But what does the data say? We visualize the millions of acres burned by U.S. wildfires from 1983 to May 2024, per statistics from the National Interagency Fire Center.

2010 and 2015 Saw Record Land Burned by Wildfires

From glancing at the chart, it’s apparent that U.S. wildfires are burning significantly more acres on average in the 2010s than they did in the 1980s. Interestingly, the World Economic Forum points out that while the number of fires itself has fallen since 2005, the land burned has increased, indicating wildfire intensity has grown.

YearMillion Acres Burned 19831.3 19841.1 19852.9 19862.7 19872.4 19885.0 19891.8 19904.6 19913.0 19922.1 19931.8 19944.1 19951.8 19966.1 19972.9 19981.3 19995.7 20007.4 20013.6 20027.2 20034.0 2004*8.1 20058.7 20069.9 20079.3 20085.3 20095.9 20103.4 20118.7 20129.3 20134.3 20143.6 201510.1 20165.5 201710.0 20188.8 20194.7 202010.1 20217.1 20227.6 20232.7 2024**1.9
*Doesn’t include North Carolina data. **As of May 27, 2024.

In 2015, wildfires burned more than 10 million acres in the country, a first since these records began. Five years later saw a repeat, thanks to four Californian fires that together burned more than 2.3 million acres in the state.

For comparison, U.S. wildfires burned approximately 2.7 million acres in total in 2023, the lowest amount recorded since 1998. An unusually wet Californian summer helped

The Rise in America’s Billion-Dollar Extreme Weather Disasters

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May 26, 2024 Graphics & Design The Rise in U.S. Billion-Dollar Extreme Weather Disasters

Since 1980, there have been 383 extreme weather or climate disasters where the damages reached at least $1 billion. In total, these disasters have cost more than $2.7 trillion.

Created in partnership with the National Public Utilities Council, this chart shows how these disasters have been increasing with each passing decade.

A Growing Concern

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) tracks each disaster and estimates the cost based on factors like physical damages and time losses such as business interruption. They adjust all costs by the Consumer Price Index to account for inflation.

DecadeTotal No. of EventsTotal Inflation-Adjusted Cost 1980s33$216B 1990s57$330B 2000s67$611B 2010s131$978B 2020s*95$568B

Both the number and cost of extreme weather disasters has grown over time. In fact, not even halfway through the 2020s the number of disasters is over 70% of those seen during the entire 2010s. 

Severe storms have been the most common, accounting for half of all billion-dollar disasters since 1980. In terms of costs, tropical cyclones have caused the lion’s share—more than 50% of the total. Hurricane Katrina, which made landfall in 2005, remains the most expensive single event with $199 billion in inflation-adjusted costs.

Electricity and Extreme Weather Disasters

With severe storms and other disasters rising, the electricity people rely on is significantly impacted. For instance, droughts have been associated with a decline in hydropower, which is an important source of U.S. renewable electricity generation. 

Disasters can also lead to significant costs for utility companies. Hawaii Electric faces $5 billion in potential damages claims for the 2023 wildfire, which is nearly eight times its insurance coverage. Lawsuits accuse the company of negligence in maintaining its infrastructure, such as failing to strengthen power poles to withstand high winds. 

Given that the utilities industry is facing the highest risk from extreme weather and climate disasters, some companies have begun to prepare for such events. This means taking steps like burying power lines, increasing insurance coverage, and upgrading infrastructure. 

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