March 2019 preview: Historical catastrophe activity

March 5, 2019 / 1 min read

The most active March in the past ten years was in 2016, when PCS designated seven catastrophes, all wind and thunderstorm events

Spring arrives in the Northern Hemisphere on March 20, but – as we’ve seen this week – winter storms and other severe weather may still occur this month. Since 2009, PCS^® has designated 33 catastrophes in March. These events resulted in $20.1 billion in insured losses from 3.2 million claims. Wind and thunderstorm events accounted for 29 catastrophes, and four were winter storm events.

The most active March

The most active March in the past ten years was in 2016, when PCS designated seven catastrophes, all wind and thunderstorm events. The largest March event of the past decade was CAT 1815, a winter storm, in 2018. That event generated 317,600 claims with a final estimate of $1.65 billion in insured losses.

The following graph illustrates catastrophe activity for the month of March from 2009 to 2018 in terms of dollar losses and claim volumes.

PCS March Historical Data 2009-2018