The Australian Bureau of Meteorology’s confirmed yesterday that El Niño threshold levels have been reached in the tropical Pacific ocean for the first time since March 2010 and that it foresees a “substantial” event, which will likely impact insurance and reinsurance players.Previously:
Earlier this year U.S. scientists said that a “weak” El Niño was seen for 2015, but the Australian BOM now believes that towards the end of this year conditions could move towards a “substantial” El Niño event being seen.
El Niño is a weather pattern driven by ocean temperature variation. It can be responsible for extreme weather conditions, from drought to severe flooding and more intense storms, with impacts differing depending on where in the world you are.
For the Atlantic hurricane season El Niño can mean lower incidence of storms and the weak El Niño has already been held responsible for a slower than usual start to the U.S. tornado season.
For insurance and reinsurance companies the ramifications are clear. El Niño years have been responsible for great increases in agricultural insurance claims, drought, devastating flooding, severe storms, blizzards and a general uptick in weather severity in certain parts of the world....MORE
Risk: "2015 Atlantic hurricane season forecasts well below averages"
