When the rains come down on your event, your Vortex Weather Insurance policy doesn’t pay out based on loss receipts. We don’t need property value statements. We won’t send a claims adjustor (we don’t even have any on staff!).
Your policy triggers based on one thing: weather data. That’s it. All of our policies are based on independent third-party data regarding the weather at your event location. Contact us with questions about how it works, or better yet—wear your comfiest pajamas, enjoy a favorite beverage, and check out how it works in our Vortex Weather Insurance Portal. The portal is open 24/7/365.
And read on to understand how weather data works when you Vortex it!
Related: understanding weather data for insurance.
The Big Picture on Weather Data
When choosing your policy options at Vortex, you’re going to be asked for a few specifics. We’ll need to know:
- Your Event Location
- Your Time Window
- Your Rain Threshold
- Your Insurance Limit
With these four unique variables, we can create a custom policy that will help accurately protect your event’s bottom line in case of inclement weather.
What Is Your Event Location?
The event location means the physical address of the event itself.
Think of a soccer tournament company or fundraising organization. It has its headquarters at a specific street address. However, the soccer tournament itself—the event—occurs at soccer fields across town, or even across the country. The soccer fields location would be the event location.
Even if the event location doesn’t have an actual physical address, you can use a cross-street as the verifiable location. In a worst-case scenario when the event doesn’t have a cross-street nearby—such as an outdoor concert or motor sport event held in a rural field setting without an address—the staff of weather insurance pros at Vortex can help you find an agreeable location for your risk.
Location Means Accuracy
Working with historical data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Vortex Weather Insurance calculates the likelihood of rainfall at your event’s physical location.
The rainfall verification is provided by WeatherWorks and reported as a Certified Past Weather Report. This is provided to you for claim determination. Certified Past Weather Reports are typically available 48 hours after your event. If your policy triggers, we process the claim and request your payout get mailed quickly.
The Toughest Location? A Marathon.
Imagine trying to pinpoint the location of a 26 mile marathon! Vortex Weather Insurance has worked with marathons before to help protect event revenue. That’s where Vortex’s flexibility truly shines.
We can help you figure out the policy—or policies—that serve your purpose the best, and stay within your budget. Theoretically, we could have created policies to cover all 26 miles of our client’s marathon. However, through talking with them about their most important locations, times, and weather impacts, Vortex wrote policies that covered their starting line location, and their finish line.
They also chose to cover for fairly heavy rainfall amounts, because there’s a fact about marathon runners: they run! If they’re heading off for 26 miles, they’ll keep going through most light and medium rainfalls. We have nothing but respect for these hardcore athletes.
Related: how is weather data used?
The Event Time Window
The second important piece of information is the time window you want to cover with your rain insurance policy.
This flexible time choice makes our weather insurance unique in the industry. You can pick the hour, hours, or entire day(s) you want to include in cover with your Vortex rain insurance policy.
For a short event, you might want to cover the entire event time, including an hour or two before and after the event.
If your event is longer, such as a weekend festival or a county or state fair, you’ll want to hone in on the times that involve the most impact for your revenue.
These times can include:
- Time of day with the heaviest attendance
- The hours with most expense
- Duration of headliner acts
- Any time with maximum revenue exposure
Targeting the most important times can save you money, and help you manage your premium for the best effect.
Be Sure to Include Pre-Time
For those times when you expect the most attendees, insure an hour or 2 before the event and also after it also.
That pre-time is especially important, because rainfall may divert attendees from your outdoor event to other protected or sheltered activities—and therefore not yours. If you apply your rain insurance coverage to those 1 to 2 pre-hours, you can effectively support your revenue if the rain drains your attendance.
Also, for the hour or two after, there may be the post-concert enjoyment of food, libations, and entertainment at the fair or festival. Plus there could be a lot of merchandise sales afterwards. Subsequently, if that income is part of your revenue plan, you’ll also want to protect that revenue from rain.
Understanding Your Rain Threshold
Your chosen rain threshold is a key determinant we use to create your policy. It’s imperative when shopping for weather insurance to know where the data is collected, and how.
At Vortex, you decide how much rain has to fall for your policy to trigger. If that amount meets or surpasses your chosen rain threshold during the specified time, that’s it. Your policy triggers, and we send out your insurance check within 2 weeks of verification.
The Vortex Weather Insurance Portal lists our most frequently chosen rainfall thresholds for you. They are:
- .10 inches
- .25 inches
- .50 inches
- 1 inch
If you prefer other thresholds or a custom one, we’re happy to help! Just contact us, and a Vortex Weather Insurance professional will contact you to help craft your tailored policy.
The threshold you choose will define your rate. The higher your threshold amount is, the lower the rate will be.
Where does the rainfall weather data come from?
Vortex uses Certified Past Weather Reports from WeatherWorks to report the rainfall for your policy. For over 35 years, WeatherWorks has provided detailed, site-specific, and easy-to-understand Certified
Past Weather Reports. Their service includes a complete analysis of the meteorological data pertinent to a particular event, including an hourly weather table with rainfall amounts.
How Do I Know the Amount To Choose?
Discerning which threshold amount is right for you depends on how it will affect the revenue generating times for your event. And how does so much revenue get generated for events and for their connected vendors?
Attendance Is Everything
Get inside the head of an event attendee. If your event is on dirt or grass, how much rain will turn that into mud? And how much wet stuff will an attendee be willing to endure to experience the event?
For example, we’ve historically noted that events like outdoor rock concerts and running marathons are more apt to have attendees come and/or stay even if it rains. Other events, like ones that occur on hard or asphalt surfaces—motorsports, or tennis tournaments for example—can have smaller amounts of rain more greatly impact their attendance.
You’re the professional when it comes to your awesome event. So put on the shoes—or galoshes—of an attendee, and think about what they would be willing to tolerate to enjoy your event.
What Does That Much Rain Look Like?
Here at Vortex Weather Insurance, we’re pretty much weather nerds. When we discovered that the National Weather Service has a rain rate visualizer online, we thought it was cool! We also thought it was terrifically useful in understanding what those rain rates look like..
Your Insurance Limit
When choosing your insurance limit, you don’t have to insure the entire event. Think about what’s most important to accomplish with a claims payout if the weather data triggers your policy:
- Do you need to cover all expenses?
- Do you only need enough to refund admission?
- Does the payout need to cover the charitable fundraising goal?
- Will the claims check need to supply the base for more events?
Accordingly, with a Vortex policy, you can choose an insurance limit that best fits your goals.
Information We Don’t Use, Need, or Want
There is information that other insurance companies use for their policies that we don’t use, and don’t need it. It’s information such as::
- Loss data
- Previous loss history
- Receipts
- Sales history
- Long application process forms
- Company credit history
Consequently, here’s a bonus: you don’t need to review 60 pages of a policy contract, either.
We’re also very happy to work with your current insurance agent or broker. We can help them understand how rain insurance works alongside your other event insurance policies.
How Will I Know When My Policy Has Triggered?
The rain pitter-pattering against your raincoat during your specified event time is a good indication your policy may trigger. However, Vortex Weather Insurance uses independent third-party, Certified Past Weather Reports from WeatherWorks as our settlement source.
The data is typically finalized 48 hours after your event. When that finalization occurs, Vortex is automatically sent the report. We quickly verify it, send it to our home office, and a check is cut.
You won’t get a visit from an adjuster. We won’t call and email you about extra paperwork for you to fill out. If your policy triggers, payment is sent. It truly is that simple.
How Late Can I Wait Before Locking Down My Rain Insurance Policy?
You’ll need to have your Vortex rain insurance policy purchased 15 days before the date it goes into effect.
What Does Weather Data Mean For Me?
It means security. It means accuracy. It means truly independent claims handling. And it could mean saving your bottom line when the bottom drops out of the forecast! Visit the Vortex Weather Insurance Portal for a free account, and to create a fast, easy, and real cost estimate.
You can also contact us with any questions or concerns. We’re there for you, rain or shine.
For your important outdoor event, don’t just protect it. Vortex it!
