“I’ve never seen this before.”
New York Times March 22, 2024:
Golf balls, tennis balls, softballs. All sound like the stuff of fun games — except when they are used to describe the size of the hailstones that often accompany severe thunderstorms.
Those hailstones can cause significant damage to homes and cars, a growing worry as warming temperatures fuel more destructive storms. This month, baseball-size hail, sometimes called “gorilla hail” because of its heft, was reported in Kansas and Missouri.
The insurance industry reported $60 billion in losses from “severe convective storms” — a catchall name for thunderstorms that may spawn hail, heavy rain, lightning, high winds and tornadoes — last year, said Mark Friedlander, a spokesman for the Insurance Information Institute, a trade group. In 2022, the industry reported $31 billion in losses.
Data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Storm Prediction Center show 5,879 reports of hailstones of one inch or larger in 2022, up 17 percent from 5,020 in 2021. Preliminary data for 2023 show 6,962 reports, including a significant increase in reports of very large hailstones of two inches or more.
In 2023, State Farm paid 27,300 claims for hail damage to homes and businesses, up from 23,200 in 2022, said Heather Paul, a company spokeswoman. Payouts totaled $6.1 billion last year, more than the previous two years combined.
“We’re seeing severe weather increase,” Ms. Paul said.
In addition, inflation is driving up the cost of materials and labor to repair the damage, increasing insurers’ liability. More developmentin areas affected by severe storms is also a factor. State Farm’s average homeowner hail claim last year was about $17,000, up from $16,000 in 2022, Ms. Paul said.
That’s a worrying trend for homeowners because losses mean insurers may get “bold with nipping and tucking of coverage,” said Amy Bach, executive director of United Policyholders, a consumer advocacy group. Property owners and insurance adjusters have suggested that insurers are “getting aggressive” in denying hail claims, she said.
Widespread severe storms on Tuesday produced massive hail across parts of Illinois, Texas and Missouri, including a new contender for a state record.
AccuWeather Meteorologist and Storm Chaser Tony Laubach measured a hailstone 5.25 inches in diameter in Kankakee, Illinois, on Tuesday evening, larger than the Illinois state record of 4.75 inches, set on June 10, 2015, at Minooka.
“This is ginormous hail,” Laubach said on Tuesday, holding up a hailstone.
“This is nuts. This is some of the biggest hail I’ve seen in quite some time. And again, the ground is just covered in it,” he continued. “You can see as I’m walking here, just massive hailstones everywhere.”
Laubach said the stones left “craters” in the ground.
The old home-insurance rules are being upended. For decades, coastal states with hurricanes bore the brunt of rate increases, while inland states enjoyed cheap coverage. Now, hailstorms, wildfires and wind damage are hammering places once thought to be shielded from the worst rate hikes, a Wall Street Journal analysis of premiums and natural disasters nationwide found.
Hail-prone Iowa has seen approved home-insurance rates increase 91% since 2021: In Florida, despite the hurricane risk, the increase is 35%, S&P Global Market Intelligence data through March show.
https://gizmodo.com/could-this-super-el-nino-trigger-a-global-food-crisis-2000773228
In the past, some of US “foreign aid” policy that donated free* US grain to hungry nations ended up undermining local suppliers and perpetuated those places’ food insecurity.
_______________
*The farm lobby got the US government to purchase and ship the “free” grain as a financial benefit to domestic farmers.