What’s New: In brief (May 25, 2005)

AIR Worldwide Corporation (AIR) and Accurate Environmental Forecasting Inc. (AEF) are offering a new risk model that estimates hurricane losses based on climate forecasts. This new model uses AIR’s loss modeling technology and AEF’s ability to forecast climate’s impact on hurricane risk to identify locations where hurricane activity is most likely to deviate from the long-term average. AEF’s methodology to determine changes in probable hurricane activity is based on evolving atmospheric and oceanic conditions. The methodology is captured in AEF’s Hurricane Index, which AIR uses to create an alternative, climate-conditioned catalog of potential hurricane activity. The AEF Hurricane Index reflects fluctuations in climate signals, the variability of sea surface temperatures in the tropical Atlantic, and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), all of which can influence hurricane activity.