Mild

This year’s hurricane season has been mild—typical in an El Niño year. But weather or climate disasters are picking up. So far, there have been 15 episodes with losses exceeding $1 billion each in the U.S. this year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA. That’s tracking well above the average of eight events a year from 1980 to 2022.

Insurance brokerage Aon says global insured losses through July 2023 reached $59 billion, near record levels. Bank of America analyst Joshua Shanker recently raised catastrophe loss forecasts across much of the property-and-casualty industry, and modestly increased losses to capture quarter-end storm activity.
–Barron’s