Record-breaking winter storms in the United States caused more than $1 billion of insured losses last month, according to estimates by Aon Benfield.

The US has been hit by a string of winter storms this year, which in January were estimated to have caused $500 million of economic losses.

There was no respite in February, with five separate stretches of heavy snow and icy conditions impacting large swathes of the country.

Freezing air that dipped below -20F, caused by a polar vortex weather pattern, added to the disruption in major cities, including Chicago, New York and Boston.

“Boston registered its snowiest and second-coldest February on record,” reported Aon Benfield in its Global Catastrophe Recap for the month. Aon Benfield is part of reinsurance intermediary and capital advisor Aon.

A total of 64.8 inches of snow fell in Boston during February.

Preliminary estimates put insured losses caused as a result of February’s winter weather in the US at more than $1 billion.

Winter weather in Europe during February is also estimated to have resulted in economic losses of many millions of dollars, while flooding in the Balkans and Turkey affected more than 2,000 properties and caused economic losses of at least $13 million.

Two powerful cyclones that struck Australia resulted in an estimated $312 million of economic losses. Cyclones Lam and Marcia hit the Northern Territory and Queensland, respectively, within six hours of one another on February 20.

Lam had peak sustained winds of 115mph, while Marcia’s sustained winds hit 130mph. There were nearly 15,000 insured claims resulting from Cyclone Marcia.

The costliest catastrophe event in Asia was flooding in Indonesia, with total damage in the capital Jakarta alone estimated at $235 million.

Elsewhere in Asia, winter weather in Afghanistan, which triggered a series of avalanches, killed around 300 people and destroyed 1,250 homes.

And a magnitude-5.2 earthquake in China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region reportedly resulted in more than 3,000 properties being damaged and economic losses estimated at $15 million.