{"id":253130,"date":"2026-01-26T22:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T22:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/253130\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T22:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T22:26:09","slug":"winter-storm-likely-cost-the-us-economy-billions-of-dollars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/253130\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter storm likely cost the US economy billions of dollars"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOUSTON (AP) \u2014 The deadly and widespread winter storm<\/a> paralyzing much of the American East with ice, snow and cold is also taking a multi-billion dollar bite out of the U.S. economy, experts figure.<\/p>\n

But how much? Economists and meteorologists are trying to get a handle on the disruption costs of winter weather disasters, which aren\u2019t as easy to calculate as buildings destroyed by hurricanes, floods and fires.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvents like this storm highlight just how interconnected our economy is with weather conditions. When major transportation hubs shut down or power grids fail, the cascading effects ripple through supply chains and business operations across multiple sectors simultaneously,\u201d said Jacob Fooks, a research economist for Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere at Colorado State University.<\/p>\n

Fooks said researchers don\u2019t have consensus, but most estimates suggest severe weather events collectively can cut gross domestic product by 0.5% to 2% annually \u2014 which he called \u201cvery substantial.\u201d<\/p>\n

With U.S. GDP at about $30 trillion annually, that would be from $150 billion to $600 billion.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Clouds<\/p>\n

Clouds cover the top of One World Trade, top center, as ice crowds the Hudson River in New York, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (AP Photo\/Seth Wenig)<\/p>\n

Clouds cover the top of One World Trade, top center, as ice crowds the Hudson River in New York, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (AP Photo\/Seth Wenig)<\/p>\n

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One private company puts a big price tag on the storm<\/p>\n

Most economists, meteorologists and disaster experts said it\u2019s too early to put a legitimate cost estimate on the weekend storm and upcoming week of subfreezing temperatures. But the private company AccuWeather announced that its preliminary estimate for the storm that grounded 11,400 flights<\/a> is between $105 billion and $115 billion \u2014 an amount six other experts scoffed at as far too high and insufficiently detailed.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of it comes from the disruptions that occur to commerce, the cost of power outages,\u201d AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter told The Associated Press at the annual American Meteorological Society convention in a chilly Houston. \u201cSome businesses are going to be shut down for days or a week or more.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s why AccuWeather is calling this \u201cthe storm that shut it all down,\u201d Porter said. By Monday, it had killed at least 25 people.<\/p>\n

Add to that ice toppling electrical lines leaving hundreds of thousands of people without power, tree losses, damage to cars, and all those canceled flights, Porter said. He noted it will take time to reboot air travel and restore power.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Snow<\/p>\n

Snow and ice is cleared at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Monday morning, Jan. 26, 2026, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/p>\n

Snow and ice is cleared at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Monday morning, Jan. 26, 2026, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/p>\n

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Other experts say that\u2019s too high<\/p>\n

Climate economist Adam Smith, who used to run the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration\u2019s billion-dollar weather disaster list, said this storm will easily cost multiple billions of dollars, making it the country\u2019s first billion-dollar weather disaster of 2026.<\/p>\n

But Smith, now a senior climate impact scientist at Climate Central, said it\u2019s nowhere near as costly as AccuWeather suggests. He said the private company has been an outlier among experts in climate impacts and economics. He pointed to the private company\u2019s initial estimate of $250 billion<\/a> in damage from last year\u2019s Los Angeles wildfires<\/a>. Several climate, risk and insurance groups all waited to do extensive analysis and all said the real amount was around $60 billion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

AccuWeather\u2019s estimates are much higher because they take into account the \u201cbigger picture\u201d of indirect and long-term costs, Porter said, including the business supply chain as well as medical costs. Most other estimates are \u201cunder-describing the challenges that people in the community and business face,\u2019\u2019 he said, pointing to NOAA\u2019s billion-dollar disaster page which listed factors not considered. That page says NOAA\u2019s estimates<\/a> \u201cshould be considered conservative with respect to what is truly lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

So far, the most expensive winter storm on record in the U.S. is 2021\u2019s Texas ice storm<\/a>, which cost about $26 billion, Smith and Fooks said. The 2016 Northeast blizzard cost about $3 billion, Fooks said.<\/p>\n

Smith said this weekend\u2019s storm could approach the cost of the 2021 Texas storm because it is so widespread.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Power<\/p>\n

Power lines and shrubs are covered in ice during a winter storm Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo\/George Walker IV)<\/p>\n

Power lines and shrubs are covered in ice during a winter storm Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo\/George Walker IV)<\/p>\n

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Some storm costs are hard to quantify<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a big difference in the type of losses that are talked about with winter storms and other weather disasters.<\/p>\n

Hurricanes, fires and floods cause damage to buildings, infrastructure and physical things that insurers will pay out for. In snow and ice storms, much of it is lost opportunity, which is more amorphous and harder to quantify, said Smith, Northern Illinois University meteorology professor Victor Gensini, former NOAA chief scientist Ryan Maue and former National Weather Service Director Louis Uccellini.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we talk about the billion dollar damage, we talk about hurricane damage, we\u2019re basically talking about insurable losses,\u201d Maue said. \u201cPeople generally aren\u2019t renumerated for bad weather.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Uccellini noted it can be tricky to figure out costs of those lost opportunities, in part, because research has found there can be economic winners in winter storms \u2014 for example, the hardware store that sells more shovels and salt, and the grocery store that sells more food.<\/p>\n

Fooks, of Colorado State, said it still seems that losses far outstrip those gains. He cited things like disruption of supply chains and business operations, response costs for emergency managers and departments of transportation, and so on.<\/p>\n

Porter and others say regardless of how costs are calculated, they are adding up.<\/p>\n

As the climate warms, costly weather disasters are happening \u201cat an increasing frequency and impact around the world,\u201d Porter said. \u201cThis is just the latest example.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

The Associated Press\u2019 climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP\u2019s standards<\/a> for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON (AP) \u2014 The deadly and widespread winter storm paralyzing much of the American East with ice, snow…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253131,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[37551,138,4142,219,273,3717,13693,86380,146674,54836,1242,111,139,69,147,142518,6563,5021,4998,143176],"class_list":{"0":"post-253130","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-adam-smith","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-climate-and-environment","11":"tag-economy","12":"tag-environment","13":"tag-general-news","14":"tag-houston","15":"tag-hurricanes-and-typhoons","16":"tag-jon-porter","17":"tag-national-oceanic-and-atmospheric-administration","18":"tag-natural-disasters","19":"tag-new-zealand","20":"tag-newzealand","21":"tag-nz","22":"tag-science","23":"tag-send-to-apple-news","24":"tag-storms","25":"tag-u-s-news","26":"tag-weather","27":"tag-winter-weather"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}