extreme weather News

UK Insurers Could See Underwriting Losses After Storms Ciara, Dennis: Fitch

Losses from storms Ciara and Dennis, which brought strong winds, torrential rain and widespread flooding to the UK, will increase pressure on UK household insurers’ profits in 2020, said Fitch Ratings. While the claims are unlikely to exceed £500 million …

Australia’s Central Bank Chief Warns of Economic, Financial Effects of Climate Change

Australia’s central bank chief Philip Lowe warned of wide-ranging economic and financial impacts from climate change, after his drought-stricken nation suffered some of its worst wildfires ever. Speaking on a panel with his Canadian counterpart, Lowe pointed out that drought …

‘Rivers in the Sky’ Causing Billions in Flood Damage in U.S.

Climate change is spurring a new, deep dive into a complex, little-studied weather system blamed for creating billions of dollars in flood damage across the western U.S. Atmospheric rivers are narrow ribbons of concentrated moisture that originate in the Pacific …

Researchers Create Extreme Weather Early Warning System from ‘Obsolete’ Tool

Rice University engineers have created a deep learning computer system that taught itself to accurately predict extreme weather events, like heat waves, up to five days in advance using minimal information about current weather conditions. Ironically, Rice’s self-learning “capsule neural …

Japan Firms Have Done Little to Build Resilience Against Increasing Floods: Reuters Poll

Japanese companies have contingency plans for the floods that increasingly drench this island nation, but most have done little to fortify facilities, relying instead on insurance and securing alternative supply sources, a Reuters poll found. Japanese have long been conditioned …

U.K. Endures Record High Temperatures During 2010s

The U.K. endured more high-temperature records during the 2010s than any decade over the last century, according to the nation’s weather service, attributing the trend to climate change. Four of the eight high-temperate extremes from the last decade occurred in …

Climate Forecast for 2020s Is Warmer, Stormier and More Extreme: Opinion

Over the last decade, scientists learned a great deal about the climate, much of it concerning the connection between global warming and extreme events — heat waves, hurricanes, floods, droughts and wildfires. There has been, for many years, an understanding …

Extreme Weather in Greece Brought $1.1 Billion in Crop Damages Since 2011

In the hills of northern Greece, peach farmer Makis Antoniadis is sweating in unseasonably warm November weather as he toils with his most recent harvest. It might be one of his last. Already grappling with the effects of climate change, …

Nobody Seems to Know Why Hail Storm Losses Suddenly Began Rising in 2008

In 2008, the year the stock market crashed and Barack Obama won the presidency, the U.S. was hit with a weather phenomenon little noted by anyone beyond the insurance industry. The country’s losses from hail breached $19 billion in inflation-adjusted …

Insurers Pitch Quick-Paying Parametric Disaster Insurance to Public Sector

Some of the world’s largest insurers are eagerly pitching cities, states and even school districts on policies designed to pay out quickly with few questions in the event of extreme weather. The catch: Even a hurricane might not be extreme …