Winter Storm, Cold Wave

January 19 to 22, 1985 · Winter Storm · $2.5 billion in 2024 dollars

One of the winter storm disasters on NOAA’s billion-dollar list: $2.5 billion in losses at 2024 prices ($837 million at the time) and 150 deaths.

The toll

Losses, 2024 dollars: $2.5 billion
Losses at the time: $837 million
Deaths: 150

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 1985 Tornadoes in 1985

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.