California wildfires, hurricanes make 2018 fourth-costliest disaster year - San Francisco Chronicle

California’s deadly wildfires joined two U.S. hurricanes as the nation’s costliest natural disasters in 2018, contributing to a total $91 billion of losses from major catastrophes last year, the federal government reported Wednesday.

The damage ranks as the fourth greatest in terms of annual losses from billion-dollar-plus disasters in recent U.S. history and underscores an unnerving trend of increasing devastation.

The $24 billion toll ascribed to the California wildfires vastly exceeds the $18 billion of major nationwide fire damage in 2017, according to federal estimates.

Scientists at NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, who provided the damage reports, did not directly blame rising global temperatures for the uptick. However, the figures the agencies released Wednesday support the scientific consensus that climate change is helping drive such extremes.

Last year was the fourth hottest year since record-keeping began in 1880, according to the new data provided by the agencies. Global temperatures in 2018 averaged 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the 20th century average, NOAA reported.

The U.S. was also warmer, about 1.5 degrees above last century’s mean, with California significantly above average as well.

Globally, the past five years have been the five warmest in modern history.

Deke Arndt, chief of the monitoring section at NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information, said the warming will likely worsen. He said not every year will set a new heat record but the trend will continue, likening the trajectory to “riding up an escalator over time and then jumping up and down while you’re on that escalator.”

NOAA and NASA have both said global warming is being driven by greenhouse gas pollution, though President Trump has outright denied the phenomenon. Despite warnings that rising temperatures could make parts of the planet uninhabitable by the end of the century, the president has spurned efforts to regulate heat-trapping emissions.

In Tuesday’s State of the Union speech, Trump praised the U.S. for becoming the world’s largest producer of oil, a major source of greenhouse gases.

On Wednesday, Democrats in the House began hearings on climate change, though significant moves to address the problem are not expected to win the needed bipartisan support.

The federal government's newly released data show that the California wildfires last summer and fall caused $24 billion of damage. Hurricane Michael, which struck the Gulf coast on Oct 10, brought $25 billion worth of damage. Hurricane Florence, which hit the eastern seaboard Sept. 13, resulted in $24 billion of losses.

Other billion-dollar-plus disasters included drought in the Great Plains, tornadoes in the Southeast and winter storms in the New England.

The distinction of the most devastating year remains with 2017. The $16 billion-plus disasters two years ago include hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria as well as the wildfires in Wine Country. Total damage was $306 billion.

Kurtis Alexander is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kalexander@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kurtisalexander

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