The Germany based reinsurer is predicting fewer storms than 2017’s record breaking year.
Munich Re is predicting an average 2018 Hurricane Season. This comes as somewhat of a relief following the record-breaking destruction left behind last year. The 2017 season brought insurance companies approximately $135 billion in costs.
Munich Re is the second largest reinsurance company in the world and releases its predictions publicly.
The world’s second biggest reinsurance company predicts that there will be notably fewer powerful tropical storms in the 2018 Hurricane Season than there were last year. Their models indicate that there will be fewer of the highly intense tropical storms. This news arrived just as Tropical Storm Alberto made its way into the Caribbean and threatened several U.S. states.
“Our models suggest that the 2018 hurricane season is likely to be an average one,” said Torsten Jeworrek, Munich executive board member, as reported by the Financial Times.
The reinsurer predicts around three major storms during the 2018 Hurricane Season.
Last year, there were twice that number of major hurricanes. The official season runs from June 1 right through to the close of November 30. Last year’s major hurricanes came with a total bill of $135 billion, when also including other natural catastrophes such as earthquakes around the world. This meant that the global insurance industry saw record breaking costs as a result of Mother Nature.
In fact, according to Munich Re statistics, the cost of natural disasters in 2017 was nearly three times greater than the 10 year average.
This more recent prediction for the storm season followed closely on the heels of one issued by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The administration is a scientific component of the United States Department of Commerce. The NOAA forecast is for a 65 percent probability that the Atlantic hurricane season will be about typical or slightly less intense.
Munich Re’s 2018 Hurricane Season prediction is based on the reinsurer’s models and the latest data and other information, said Jeworrek. In includes factors ranging from trade winds to Atlantic surface water temperatures. The outlook is not a firm one, but is based on the best information available. There remains uncertainty as to how this year’s storm season will play out.