What You Should Consider
How does weather affect your business?
Before you dive into the details of weather insurance, identify how weather impacts your business. What are your concerns? And what could you lose in a worst-case scenario?
Identify weather variables
What weather poses the biggest threat: rain, snow, wind, drought or extreme temperatures? And are you concerned about too much weather or too little?
When do you need weather insurance?
Do you need help to insure a single event and need weather insurance during a certain timeframe? Or are you looking for long-term or seasonal weather insurance, whether for an event series or a specific type of business?
Factors
Season
Beyond location, a difference in price can occur during different seasons of the year. Rain insurance in Seattle during December will have very different pricing than a similar policy in Seattle during August, when the city tends to be drier. Rain insurance, snow insurance, and other types of weather insurance pricing will vary based on time of year.
Location
Geographic location is a factor when writing a weather insurance policy. Rain insurance in a desert state will commonly be less expensive than rain insurance in the Pacific Northwest. However, this isn’t a guarantee. Some deserts have a monsoon season.
Duration
Customers have a lot of flexibility over the number of hours or days they select to insure their business or event. The longer your time period, the higher the probability that a weather event will occur. Pricing can reflect this. The greater the chance that a weather event may occur means the greater the chance it may happen when you don’t want it to. Using weather insurance can help protect your business when bad weather develops.
The Probability of a Weather Event
A combination of historical data, geography, season, and time of day helps determine the likelihood of a weather event.
We use decades of data and meteorological insight to determine the probability of an event occurring. For example, from our data we can establish between June and August, Seattle has a 4.7% chance of .25 inches of rain falling on any day. For Chicago, during the same period, the probability is 14.9%.
Anytown, USA
So, How Much Does Weather Insurance Cost?
Anytown, U.S.A.
In Anytown, U.S.A. rain amounts vary throughout seasons and the year. Some seasons’ average rainfall is much higher than others.
The probability of rain falling .25” between the hours of 5 pm and 9 pm during a historically rainy month is 11%, and in another traditionally drier month during the same hours, the probability is only 6%.
If the limit for the policy was $10,000, the client could expect to pay at least $1,100 (11%) during the rainy month and at least $600 (6%) during the drier month*.
*Please note that there are many variables involved in calculating weather risk. This is a very basic model. Premiums will vary with the inclusion of coverage location, coverage date, coverage hours, meteorological data, etc. Additional charges and fees may be associated with a policy. These prices are a simple estimation and should not be used to determine premiums.
Let Us Worry About The Weather.
Weather can affect a business in multiple ways. If you don’t know where to start, give us a call. We’ll assess your business’ weather risks and structure a plan for your specific needs.
We’ll keep it simple every step of the way.