Severe weather caused 333 deaths in the United States in 2014, according to the National Weather Service’s Summary of Natural Hazard Statistics for 2014.
That was the fewest in 22 years.
“Fortunately, the United States was again spared any major land falling tropical storms. There were no U.S. tropical storm related deaths in 2014,” according to the report.
The last time there were fewer “fatalities caused by severe weather” was in 1992, when 308 such deaths were recorded, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“For the third consecutive year, weather-related deaths dropped significantly,” said the NOAA summary. NOAA reported 446 fatalities caused by severe weather in 2013 and 528 in 2012.
The 2014 number was also “below the 10-year average of 638 deaths,” the summary stated.
Twice as many males (67 percent) as females (30 percent) died from extreme weather conditions last year, according to NOAA.
Rip-currents caused the most severe weather-related fatalities (57) in 2014, followed by wind (54), tornadoes (47), cold (43), winter (41), lightning (26), heat (20), and hurricanes (zero).
