To put this kind of damage in perspective, consider that only two hurricanes in America’s history surpass $15 billion in damage – Hurricane Andrew of 1992 with $23 billion, and Hurricane Katrina of 2005 with $45 billion (click here for the top 12 costliest hurricanes of all time). Hurricanes Ike, Wilma, Frances, Jeanne, Hugo – all have been surpassed by this spring’s weather.

The tornado super-outbreak of late April. The flooding of Old Man River. The F-5 monster that tore over a quarter of the buildings in Joplin, MO off the face of the land. That even one of these devastating events would happen is a statistical long-shot. That they would all happen within the space of a month is just eerie. And the financial ramifications for insurers are graver with each storm. Cumulative insured losses now stand to be well north of $10 billion. For context, that compares directly to Hurricane Wilma ($11.3 billion) and Hurricane Ike ($12.4 billion) the 4th and 3rd costliest hurricanes in U.S. history respectively.

It’s widely recognized among “cat” adjusters, who make a livelihood of adjusting claims arising from catastrophes, that nothing spikes adjuster demand like a major hurricane. Last month’s terrifying tornado “Super Outbreak”, however, may prove an exception to that rule.

Storm Season 2011! We are still a few months away from the beginning of the 2011 hurricane season but it’s never too early to indulge in some idle and underinformed speculation about what is going to happen. I’ll admit, in the past I’ve been duped by claims to prescience among the scientific meteorological community. I’ve allowed my expectations to reach fever pitch by putting my faith in the experts and their fathomless arsenal of jargon – Bastardis, Lunardis, West African rainfall, stratospheric quasi-biennial oscillation, el Nino, la Nina, a wizened professor in Colorado. This year, I’m putting these weapons of prognostication aside and going with something a little more basic – my gut.

The 2010 Hurricane season was remarkable. You may well remember. It was to be an historic year of cyclonic activity. Dire early season warnings of doom were disseminated across the web. The Weather Channel whipped the public’s imagination into frenzy, a rolling boil of trepidation for coastal denizens and tense anticipation for some of our ilk – cat adjusters.

In my time in this industry, if we reach the third week of September with exactly zero storms having hit the U.S. (does Hermine count?), I all but close the book on the season.  This year, however, is a very strong exception. Oceanic conditions have actually become increasingly favorable throughout September to hurricane formation and, [...]

After the sound and fury of Danielle, Earl, Fiona, Gaston, & Hermine there has been just a momentary lull in action of the Atlantic. The U.S. dodged a few bullets the past couple of weeks but there are strong indicators that the Atlantic isn’t out of ammo. Tropical Storm Igor is expected to reach hurricane [...]