Measures of Economic Impacts of Weather Extremes

One of the primary driving forces behind weather research and development has been the losses caused by weather extremes. Unfortunately, available loss values have been more qualitative than quantitative. There has never been a concerted, organized effort to collect and quality control economic impact data for weather extremes. Numerous studies have been made, resulting in widely varying estimates of losses, and these have been limited by 1) an inability to access certain types of loss data; 2) a lack of attention to indirect, delayed impacts, including benefits; and 3) diverse and inconsistent sources of loss data. Numerous problems have resulted from the poor estimates of loss and lack of understanding of the data uncertainties. Federal relief payments for major events have escalated partly as a result of insufficient data to detect and understand society's changing vulnerability to extremes. Controversies over relief payments for major damaging events have occurred as a result of imprecise loss estimat...