Showing papers by "Stanley A. Changnon published in 2009"

Increasing major hail losses in the U.S.

Abstract: Property losses due to hailstorms on April 13–14, 2006, resulted in Midwestern property losses that totaled $1.822 billion, an amount considerably more than the previous record high of $1.5 billion set by an April 2001 hail event. The huge April 2006 loss was largely due to multiple severe storms with frequent large hail hitting major metropolitan areas. A highly unstable air mass that developed on April 13 led to several supercell storms and they then produced large hailswaths across portions of Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin during a 30-h period. This storm event and prior recent major hail losses occurred when several major hailstorms developed and then traveled for hundreds of kilometers. The nation’s top ten loss events during 1950–2006 reveal a notable temporal increase with most losses in the 1992–2006 period. Causes for the increases could be an increasing frequency of very unstable atmospheric conditions leading to bigger, longer lasting storms, and/or a greatly expanded urban society that has become increasingly vulnerable to hailstorms.

Tornado Losses in the United States

Abstract: Insurance data for tornado damages during 1949–2006 revealed 793 tornado events that each caused >$1 million in losses. The average annual loss of these tornado catastrophes is $982 million, an amount that greatly exceeds the existing average of $462 million based on estimates from government records. Tornado losses typically occurred in only one state but when tornadoes occurred with floods or hurricanes, the losses occurred in four or five states. Tornado catastrophes and losses were most frequent in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, and relatively frequent in many Midwestern states. The temporal distribution of tornado catastrophes revealed large interannual variability with a few years of major loss and many years with none. Tornado-only catastrophes and their losses had flat trends for 1949–2006 but trends were upward for cases of tornadoes with floods and cases when tornadoes occurred with hurricanes. These result from upward trends in flooding across the nation and the tornado-hurricane temporal increase results from time-related increases in hurricane-prone storm conditions and from coastal society's growing vulnerability to storm damages.

Hailstorms Across the Nation: An Atlas about Hail and Its Damages

Abstract: When this record was added to IDEALS on 2010-03-10, the incorrect file was uploaded. The error was discovered and the correct file uploaded on 2019-06-11.

Temporal and spatial distributions of wind storm damages in the United States

Abstract: High wind caused catastrophes, storms causing property losses >$1 million, during 1952–2006 averaged 3.1 events per year in the U.S. The average loss per event was $90 million, and the annual average loss was $354 million. High wind catastrophes were most frequent in the Northeast, Central, and West Coast areas. Storm losses on the West Coast were the nation’s highest, averaging $115 million per event. High wind losses are the nation’s only form of severe weather that maximizes on the West Coast. High wind catastrophes were most frequent in winter, and were infrequent in the late spring and early fall seasons. Loss areas were frequently confined to one state. Losses in the western U.S. and nationally have increased during the 1952–2006 period, both with statistically significant upward trends.

Characteristics of severe Atlantic hurricanes in the United States: 1949–2006

Abstract: Property insurance data available for 1949–2006 were assessed to get definitive measures of hurricane losses in the U.S. Catastrophes, events causing >$1 million in losses, were most frequent in the Southeast and South climate regions. Losses in these two regions totaled $127 billion, 85% of the nation’s total losses. During the period 1949–2006 there were 79 hurricane catastrophes, causing $150.6 billion in losses and averaging $2.6 billion per year. All aspects of these hurricanes showed increases in post-1990 years. Sizes of loss areas averaged one state in 1949–1967, but grew to 3 states during 1990–2006. Seven of the ten most damaging hurricanes came in 2004 (4) and 2005 (3). The number of hurricanes also peaked during 1984–2006, increasing from an annual average of 1.2 during 1949–1983 to 2.1 per year. Losses were $49.3 billion in 1991–2006, 32% of the 58-year total. Various reasons have been offered for such recent increases in hurricane losses including more hurricanes, more intense tropical storms, increased societal vulnerability in storm-prone areas, and a change in climate due to global warming, although this is debatable.

The 1993 Flood's Aftermath: Risks, Root Causes, and Lessons for the Future

Abstract: With losses totaling $19 billion, the recordsetting 1993 flood is the second most costly weather-related disaster in the nation’s history after Hurricane Andrew with $30 billion (Changnon 2004) The physical, economic, and social impacts of that flood have continued to appear years after the event, and they have inspired investigations into regional flooding, the causes of major losses, and other unresolved issues related to the potential for future flooding This paper addresses four of these post-flood issues, framed as questions arising in the aftermath of the 1993 flood

Temporal Changes in Extremely Damaging Storms

Abstract: Records of extremely damaging storms in the United States during the years 1949-2006 were assessed to define their temporal distribution. A change in climate due to global warming may lead to more ...

Assessment of a method used to time adjust past storm losses

Abstract: A widely used method for adjusting past annual storm losses to present day values, needed to address the ever-changing socio-economic conditions, was assessed The property insurance industry developed a comprehensive method for adjusting losses in past years to current year loss values Characteristics of hurricanes occurring 50+ years ago and those in the recent years were examined to find similar early and recent pairs of storms for a comparative evaluation of their property losses One pair found was Hurricanes Hazel (1954) and Hugo (1989), and another pair with similar features was Hurricanes Carol (1954) and Bob (1991) The insurance-based adjusted property loss values for these two pairs of storms were compared to determine if the early year values were comparable to the recent year values The adjusted losses of the two pairs of hurricanes were found to have small differences of 78% and 81%, and these differences were due to somewhat different storm paths and slightly higher wind speeds in the two storms having higher losses The adjustment method appears to adequately capture time differences in storm losses due to changes in population, wealth, inflation, structural density, and insurance coverage

Impacts of the 2008 floods on railroads in Illinois and adjacent states

Abstract: Near record floods in the Midwest during the spring-summer of 2008 brought massive damages to railroads and train movement problems. Illinois is in the busiest rail area of the nation. All seven of the nation’s seven major railroads experienced losses. The damages led to closures of 56rail lines in the 5-state area centered on Illinois, and many closures lasted a week or longer. Many passengers could not travel on Amtrak trains since many were cancelled for weeks The damaged tracks led to eight train wrecks and nine bridges were ruined. The damage costs to the 15 railroads affected were $85 million; the revenues lost totaled $69 million; and the total of $154 ,million rates as one of the major rail losses on record.

Characteristics of the top ten snowstorms at First-Order Stations in the U.S.

Abstract: Snowstorms can produce varying degrees of damage depending on the amount and intensity of the snowfall over a given amount of time. Concurrent weather conditions such as freezing rain and high winds often exacerbate the amount of damage received. In order to assess the frequency of potentially damaging conditions during climatologically significant snowstorms, the top ten snowstorms (TTS) at individual First-Order Stations in the eastern two-thirds of the conterminous U.S. were determined, and the hourly weather conditions during each event were analyzed. The results show that TTS have occurred as early as September and as late as June, with January being the peak month of occurrence. Hourly precipitation totals during TTS were 2.3 mm or less 88% of the time. Seven percent of TTS were classified as a blizzard with over half of the blizzards occurring in the West North Central region. The most common concurrent weather condition during a TTS was fog followed by blowing snow. Regionally, heavy snow events in the Northeast had relatively higher precipitation amounts, colder temperatures, higher winds, and more fog and blowing snow than any other region.

The severe winter of 2008-09 in Illinois

Abstract: Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Illinois State Water Survey.

Two record long tornadoes in Illinois and their major impacts

Abstract: The nation’s two longest and most deadly tornadoes occurred in Illinois early in the 20th Century. One crossed central Illinois in 1917 and killed 211 persons while the other crossed southern Illinois in 1925 and killed 695, the nation’s greatest loss of life from a tornado. These were the greatest natural disasters ever in Illinois. The 1917 tornado covered 293 miles and the 1925 storm covered 219 miles, both national records. Property damages in 1917 totaled $51.5 million (2008 dollars) and those in 1925 were $134.2 million (2008 dollars).