Facts + Statistics: Winter storms

Back To News

Facts + Statistics: Winter storms

Mar 21, 2023

Winter storms caused nearly $6 billion in insured losses in 2022, the second-highest year on record for winter storm insured losses in the last ten years, according to Aon. The third costliest winter event since 1950 occurred in December 2022, amounting to $3.5 billion insured losses. Winter storms include snow, ice, freezing and flooding. See Loss Tables

U.S. Insured Losses from Winter Storms, 2013-2022

($ millions)

	Insured losses (1)
Year	When occurred	In 2022 dollars
2013	$1,976	$2,537
2014	3,469	4,409
2015	3,917	4,974
2016	1,177	1,478
2017	926	1,133
2018	3,725	4,456
2019	1,858	2,190
2020	1,088	1,255
2021	15,529	17,606
2022	5,996	5,996

(1) Includes losses sustained by private insurers and government-sponsored programs such as the National Flood Insurance Program. Subject to change as loss estimates are further developed.

Source: Aon.

Top 10 Costliest U.S. Winter Events By Insured Losses, 1950-2022 (1)

($ millions)

				Insured loss
Rank	Date	Event	Location	When occurred	In 2022 dollars (2)
1	Feb. 12-20, 2021	Polar Vortex, Texas Freeze	TX, OR, WA, CO, NV, AR, OK, GA, NC, FL, IL, IN, IA, WI, OH, PA, VA, NC, SC, LA, MO, MS	$15,000	$17,031
2	Mar. 11-14, 1993	Blizzard	AL, CT, DE, FL, GA, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MS, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, VT, WV	2,000	4,413
3	Dec. 21-26, 2022	Winter storm	Nationwide	3,500	3,500
4	Feb. 16-22, 2015	Winter storm, winter damage	CT, DC, DE, IL, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, SC, TN, VA, VT	2,100	2,669
5	Dec. 17-30, 1983	Winter damage, cold wave	AL, AR, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, NC, ND, NE, NJ, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, WA, WI, WV, WY	880	2,591
6	Jan. 5-8, 2014	Winter damage, cold wave	AL, GA, IL, IN, KY, MD, MI, MO, MS, NC, NJ, NY, OH, PA, SC, TN, VA	1,670	2,130
7	Dec. 10-13, 1992	Winter storm	CT, DE, MA, MD, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VA, WV	1,000	2,102
8	Nov. 24-30, 1950	Winter storm	CT, DE, MA, MD, ME, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VT	170	2,101
9	Mar. 1-3, 2018	Winter storm	CT, DC, DE, MA, MD, NC, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VA	1,700	2,032
10	Jan. 29, 1951	Ice Storm	TN, TX, VA, AL, KY, MS, LA, GA, WV, VA, NC, SC	150	1,762

(1) Includes losses sustained by private insurers and government-sponsored programs such as the National Flood Insurance Program. Ranked on losses in 2021 dollars. Subject to change as loss estimates are further developed. As of January 2023.
(2) Adjusted for inflation by Aon using the U.S. Consumer Price Index.

Source: Aon.