We Are Four Months Into 2013 And The Earth Has Already Had Five Billion-Dollar Weather Disasters

ABCWeather Underground meteorologist Dr. Jeff Masters points us to the latest study from insurance broker AON Benfeld noting there have now been five weather events that have cost us at least $1 billion.

Here they are:

1) Flooding in Indonesia, from Jan 20 to 27, costing $3.31 billion.

2) Flooding in Australia, from Jan 21 through 30, $2.5 billion.

3) Winter weather in Europe, from March 12 through 31, $1.8 billion.

4) Drought in Central and Eastern China, Jan 1 through March 31, costing $1.71 billion.

5) Severe winter weather in the Midwest U.S., March 18 to 20, totaling $1 billion.

As you can see, the U.S. got its first nine-figure-er in March in the form of the early-spring snowstorm that slammed much of the Midwest and parts of the East Coast.

Flooding in the Plains states in the past week seems like a good candidate for a sixth.