As global temperatures rise due to accelerating climate change, extreme temperature swings—cold snaps and heat waves—are causing increasing damage and disruption. However, extreme cold and storms that bring snow, ice, and freezing rain can receive less focus than warm-weather hazards such as blistering heat and powerful hurricanes.

Nonetheless, cold waves and winter storms can be just as destructive. They can form storm fronts hundreds of miles long and bring plunging temperatures that infrastructure cannot withstand, causing tremendous damage, disruption, and loss of life. Damages from the five costliest winter storms from 2013 to 2022 totaled nearly $50 billion.