Effects of Recent Weather Extremes on the Insurance Industry: Major Implications for the Atmospheric Sciences

Abstract

Abstract Frequent and extremely damaging severe weather conditions in the United States during 1991–94 caused $40 billion in insured losses, creating major impacts and eliciting diverse responses in the weather insurance industry. Population, one reason for the growing national sensitivity to storm damage, explained much of the increase in the number of catastrophes (property losses > $10 million) as well as the increases in the amount of losses. The largest increases in storms occurred in areas experiencing the greatest population growth (west, southwest, south, and southeast). Shifts in atmospheric variables (particularly in the frequency of extratropical cyclones) explained most of the 1949–94 fluctuations found in the intensity of catastrophic storms (losses divided by storm frequency). The property-casualty sector raised rates, made major changes in insurance availability in high-risk areas, tightened underwriting restrictions in hurricane-prone areas, and is making extensive assessments of weather r...