Experts say the massive winter storm hitting the American East is taking a multi-billion dollar toll on the U.S. economy. But exactly how much is hard to quantify. Experts say it can be easier to calculate the cost of storms like hurricanes, fires and floods because those events cause physical damage that insurers typically pay out for.
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Doctors wish they wouldn'tNew diet guidelines say to double up on protein, but nutrition experts are waryDon't forget pets when preparing for winter's cold. Here's what experts recommendFallece el doctor William Foege, líder en la erradicación de la viruelaClouds cover the top of One World Trade, top center, as ice crowds the Hudson River in New York, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. Snow and ice is cleared at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Monday morning, Jan. 26, 2026, in Arlington, Va. DC Water crews work around snow piles to repair a water main break, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026, in Washington. Power lines and shrubs are covered in ice during a winter storm Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. Clouds cover the top of One World Trade, top center, as ice crowds the Hudson River in New York, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. Clouds cover the top of One World Trade, top center, as ice crowds the Hudson River in New York, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. Snow and ice is cleared at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Monday morning, Jan. 26, 2026, in Arlington, Va. Snow and ice is cleared at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Monday morning, Jan. 26, 2026, in Arlington, Va. DC Water crews work around snow piles to repair a water main break, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026, in Washington. DC Water crews work around snow piles to repair a water main break, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026, in Washington. Power lines and shrubs are covered in ice during a winter storm Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. Power lines and shrubs are covered in ice during a winter storm Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. 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. But how much? Economists and meteorologists are trying to get a handle on the disruption costs of winter weather disasters, which aren’t as easy to calculate as buildings destroyed by hurricanes, floods and fires. “Events 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,” said Jacob Fooks, a research economist for Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere at Colorado State University. Fooks said researchers don’t have consensus, but most estimates suggest severe weather events collectively can cut gross domestic product by 0.5% to 2% annually — which he called “very substantial.”One private company puts a big price tag on the storm Most economists, meteorologists and disaster experts said it’s 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 stormis between $105 billion and $115 billion — an amount six other experts scoffed at as far too high and insufficiently detailed. “A lot of it comes from the disruptions that occur to commerce, the cost of power outages,” AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter told The Associated Press at the annual American Meteorological Society convention in a chilly Houston. “Some businesses are going to be shut down for days or a week or more.” It’s why AccuWeather is calling this “the storm that shut it all down,” Porter said. By Monday, it had killed at least 25 people. 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.Climate economist Adam Smith, who used to run the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s billion-dollar weather disaster list, said this storm will easily cost multiple billions of dollars, making it the country’s first billion-dollar weather disaster of 2026. But Smith, now a senior climate impact scientist at Climate Central, said it’s 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’s initial estimate ofAccuWeather did not immediately respond to a follow-up message seeking comment.Smith said this weekend’s storm could approach the cost of the 2021 Texas storm because it is so widespread.There’s a big difference in the type of losses that are talked about with winter storms and other weather disasters. 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. “When we talk about the billion dollar damage, we talk about hurricane damage, we’re basically talking about insurable losses,” Maue said. “People generally aren’t renumerated for bad weather.’’ 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 — for example, the hardware store that sells more shovels and salt, and the grocery store that sells more food. 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.As the climate warms, costly weather disasters are happening “at an increasing frequency and impact around the world,” Porter said. “This is just the latest example.”The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’sBorenstein is an Associated Press science writer, covering climate change, disasters, physics and other science topics. He is based in Washington, D.C.
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