The United States and other nations make substantial investments to collect and analyze weather and climate information with the aim of protecting life and property, promoting economic vitality, and contributing in other ways to the common good for their citizens. These investments are critical and justified because severe weather events and significant climate anomalies are creating serious adverse economic and societal impacts. However, little is actually known about how to quantify the value of the efforts of the Weather and Climate Enterprise to reduce these impacts. Without such metrics, it is difficult for policy and decision makers to assess whether additional investment by the public or private sectors would return benefits by reducing adverse impacts of severe weather events. Moreover, there is little guidance for the optimum distribution of such investments between improved observations, enhanced computer hardware and software capabilities, new research directions, university education of future professionals, or advanced training for present professionals in the management of weather and climate risk.