The USA has endured 12 billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in 2011, breaking the record of nine set in 2008, according to the National Climatic Data Center. Half of the 12 disasters were severe weather and tornado outbreaks in the spring and early summer. Once all the damages are totaled, 2011 will probably end up the third-costliest weather year of all time after 2005 (Hurricane Katrina) and 1988 (extreme drought, heat wave).

In these 12 disasters, 646 Americans have been killed. In total, including other weather events that didn't reach the billion-dollar threshold, more than 1,000 people have lost their lives because of weather and climate events this year.

The breakdown for the 12 disasters: six severe weather/tornado outbreaks; the spring and summer river flooding along the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers; the ongoing Southern drought; the blizzard in February in the Central and Eastern USA; Hurricane Irene in August; and the Southwestern wildfires. There were as many billion-dollar weather disasters this year as in the entire decade of the 1980s.

The total may not be complete: Two other disasters, Tropical Storm Lee and the Halloween snowstorm that hit the East Coast, could also reach the $1 billion mark once final damages are tallied.

The Climate Prediction Center is forecasting above normal precipitation across parts of the Northwest and Midwest. They are also forecasting below normal precipitation across parts of the Southwest and Deep South.

The Climate Prediction Center is forecasting above normal temperatures across the Plains, Midwest, and South. They are also forecasting below normal temperatures across the Northwest and West.