To inform policy on preventative measures against harmful and damaging weather events in the United States, this analysis attempts to determine the types of weather event types that are most harmful with respect to population health, as well as weather event types that are most damaging to a country’s economy. It uses data provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It follows a simple approach to produce two rankings, each listing the most dangerous and most damaging weather event types observed in the United States between 1996 and 2011 respectively.