Quantifying the Impacts of Weather

NASA satellite image North America
Challenge

The impact of weather on the US economy is large, but difficult to measure.

Solution

U.S. Economic Sensitivity to Weather Variability
A 2011 economic study by NSF NCAR RAL indicated that the inter-annual aggregate dollar variation in U.S. economic activity that is attributable to weather variability could be 3.4%, or $485 billion of the 2008 gross domestic product.

Benefits

From very local short-term decisions about whether or not to pour concrete to broader decisions of when to plant or harvest a field, this report demonstrates how weather can have positive or negative effects on economic activity.

Contact

Please direct questions/comments about this page to:

Stefano Alessandrini

Project Scientist III

email