U.S. Drought/Heat Wave

June 1 to August 31, 1988 · Drought · $55 billion in 2024 dollars

One of the drought disasters on NOAA’s billion-dollar list: $55 billion in losses at 2024 prices ($20 billion at the time) and 454 deaths.

The toll

Losses, 2024 dollars: $55 billion
Losses at the time: $20 billion
Deaths: 454

The losses and deaths are NCEI’s, counting everything the disaster did. The episodes below are only what the Weather Service filed in its Storm Events record, which counts damage differently and often not at all, so the two never add up and are shown apart.

Every billion-dollar disaster Every storm of 1988 Tornadoes in 1988

Sources

NOAA NCEI, U.S. Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters (2025), https://doi.org/10.25921/stkw-7w73, and the Storm Events Database for the episodes.