Indeed. We've fired dozens if not hundreds of nukes of every size from popgun to the granddaddy Hydrogen variety. Why haven't we disappeared into the mists of time with those? Oh, because they didn't hit population?
IMHO, we could lose any single major population center and survive fine, including my home here in Miami, FL. Except for the cold implacable rage that would spring from such an incident and result in a thermonuclear response never before seen in history, I think the country would soldier on. Well, I should temper my opinion on the national response as to who occupies the White House and Congress.
We haven’t detonated them near the atmosphere.