The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced on May 8, 2025, that it will cease tracking the financial impact of weather events linked to climate change, including floods, wildfires, heat waves and hurricanes.
This decision is part of broader changes within the agency, which has been subjected to shifting priorities and staff reductions under the Donald Trump Administration — limiting the government’s response to climate-related issues.
NOAA, which operates under the US Department of Commerce, has been instrumental in weather forecasting, issuing severe storm warnings, and monitoring climate trends. For decades, it has tracked hundreds of major events across the country, including destructive hurricanes, hail storms, droughts and freezes that have totaled trillions of dollars in damage. It has also maintained the National Weather Service.
NOAA said that “in alignment with evolving priorities, statutory mandates, and staffing changes, NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) will no longer be updating the Billion Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters product”.
“Additional details and the opportunity to submit comments are available at the NESDIS Notice of Changes website. All past reports, spanning 1980-2024, and their underlying data remain authoritative, archived, and available via the Billion-Dollar Disasters dataset landing page,” the agency said.
The database, which pulled data from sources like Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), state agencies, and insurance organizations, has been essential in estimating the overall costs of disasters across the country including hurricanes, heat waves, and droughts.
The decision to halt the database comes as weather-related disasters continue to escalate in both intensity and financial toll, with many experts arguing that understanding these costs is critical, especially as insurance premiums rise in vulnerable areas. While other datasets exist, they often lack the scope and detail of NOAA’s database.
In addition to the retiring of ‘Billion dollar weather and climate disasters’ database, changes have also been proposed to many information products and services provided by NOAA. The will be discontinued/ retired/ decommissioned/ retired.
These include the Manual Dvorak Estimates in the South Atlantic Ocean; Cloud Properties - ISCCP H-Series CDR; Global Ocean Currents Database (GOCD); NOAA Marine Environmental Buoy Database among others.
Meteorologist Jeff Masters from Yale Climate Connections expressed concern over the loss of NOAA’s dataset, describing it as the ‘gold standard’ for evaluating disaster costs.
Kristina Dahl of Climate Central also warned that the removal of this resource would make it more difficult for the public to recognise the growing impact of climate change, further reducing safety in communities affected by extreme weather.
The Trump administration has made significant cuts to NOAA’s workforce, which many experts warn could negatively affect both weather forecasts and public safety.
In another development, FEMA acting administrator Cameron Hamilton was fired on May 8, 2025, for telling members of the US Congress he did not think it would be in the public’s best interest to eliminate FEMA.
Hamilton testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee Committee on Homeland Security on May 7, 2025.
The website of FEMA informed the public that “FEMA.gov is being updated to comply with President Trump’s Executive Orders.”