Blizzard in the United States

How dangerous are Blizzard events in the U.S.?

The NOAA file shows a substantial human toll without entering PlainHazard's highest band: 93 fatalities and 147 injuries across 5,817 events. The high band covers hazard types with 20-99 cumulative fatalities in this 2015-2025 record. It compares catalog totals only; exposure and consequences vary widely from one event and location to another.

Geographic exposure skews toward a small cluster of frequently-hit states. The three states absorbing the largest share of events are North Dakota (905 events, 2 fatalities), Minnesota (857 events, 1 fatalities), South Dakota (841 events, 12 fatalities), a mix of underlying hazard climatology and how many people live in the exposed corridor. At the other end, states such as Tennessee, Kentucky, Nevada report far fewer events, a meaningfully lower-frequency pattern there, though local vigilance still matters.

Frequency and financial loss occupy a similar place in the NOAA catalog for this hazard. Its #20 event-count rank sits within four positions of its #16 combined-damage rank; the listed losses account for 0.2% of the catalog total. Human impact is a separate comparison: the hazard ranks #21 for fatalities and contributes 0.9% of recorded deaths.

Annual totals swing noticeably from year to year. The peak year on record was 2022, logging 854 events and $76.0M in property damage in a single calendar year. The most recent year in the dataset is 2025 with 568 events recorded. Across the full 11-year window, annual event counts reflect seasonal climate cycles and, for some years, longer climate-driven shifts in frequency.

Frequency and per-event lethality sit close together for this hazard: #20 by event count and #20 by fatalities per event among the 44 types with at least 100 recorded events, at 16.0 deaths per 1,000 recorded events. Recorded damage averages $92.6K per event. Neither the cumulative total nor the rate is misleading here -- they tell the same story.

NOAA entries are reports filed by local National Weather Service offices. Counts therefore reflect both observed weather and reporting practice; they do not measure unreported events, household exposure, or the probability of a future event at one address.