Extreme Weather News

Moody’s Links with Four Twenty Seven to Price Climate Risk: Leonid Bershidsky

The acquisition of California-based Four Twenty Seven, Inc., by Moody’s Corporation could signify the beginning of a major shift in how markets price risks related to climate change. Up until now, these risks largely have been absent from investors’ models, …

Government Climate Report Warns of Worsening U.S. Disasters

As California’s catastrophic wildfires recede and people rebuild after two hurricanes, a massive new federal report warns that these types of disasters are worsening in the United States because of global warming. The White House report quietly issued Friday also …

Researchers Say People Are Making Hurricanes Worse

Human activity is making hurricanes worse, according to a pair of studies published on Wednesday in the journal Nature. Climate change increased rainfall from 5 percent to 10 percent in hurricanes Katrina (2005), Irma (2017) and Maria (2017), wrote two …

New Study Suggests Extreme Weather Will Become More Common

Persistent weather conditions, including dry and wet spells, generally have increased in the United States, perhaps due to rapid Arctic warming, according to a Rutgers-led study. Persistent weather conditions can lead to weather extremes such as drought, heat waves, prolonged …

Wildfire-Plagued California Faces Rising Climate Change Risks

Two-thirds of California’s beaches may be washed away by the end of the century, according to the state’s latest forecast. California’s fourth statewide climate assessment details the increasingly dire impact of climate change, including rising seas, climbing temperatures, more land …

Kink in Jet Stream and Climate Change Spur Extreme Weather

Kinked, buckled, stuck or stalled, it doesn’t matter how you describe it, the jet stream – the ribbon of wind that circles the Earth – is doing strange things. The calamity list includes wildfires across Scandinavia, Greece and California, record …

Biggest Cat Losses of the Past Decade Hit U.S. Insurers

Wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes, hail storms, Nor’easters and mudslides. A string of disasters has pummeled the biggest U.S. insurers over the past year, and the second quarter was no exception. Allstate Corp. estimated its pretax catastrophe losses at $906 million for …

Hurricane-Proof Homes Slow to Gain Popularity

In a private waterfront resort on the northern tip of Key Largo, nestled between tropical forest and the Caribbean, Eric Soulavy is marketing luxury for the age of climate change: Coastal homes that are all but hurricane proof. The Florida-based …

Costlier Disasters Push U.S. to Buy Reinsurance

The federal government, seeking to protect itself from the growing cost of natural disasters, is borrowing a technique from the private sector and buying reinsurance. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which started purchasing reinsurance last year for the National Flood …

Study Finds Extreme Winter Weather Is Strongly Related to Arctic Warmth

In recent decades, extreme winter weather has become more strongly connected to disruptions in the polar vortex, according to a new study from Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER), a Verisk business, and Rutgers University, published in Nature Communications. It revealed …