British Weather Services (BWS), the insurance meteorologists, have predicted a less hostile and costly autumn/winter period for UK insurers than in the same period for 2000/2001.
BWS said the previous autum/winter cycle resulted in unprecented rainfall across some of the most populated areas of the UK and caused a massive "spike" of weather-related claims which cost general insurers over £1bn.
Total overall losses for the October 2001 to March 2002 period are expected to fall within a range of £200m to £300m.
"This is not an exact science," said BWS managing director, Jim Dale. "But our figures and the current mechanisms of the global climate do suggest a comparable downturn in weather related claims for the UK over the next six months, mainly due to an average or even below average precipitation expectation".
However, BWS have also predicted between two and three very hostile wind storm scenarios. "Not of the 1987 'great storm' variety, but certainly strong enough to make a noteworthy impact on the industry," said Dale.
Overall, BWS said they expected a relatively mild winter, with just a few realtively short-lived hard frost/blizzard incursions. But they warned that even the most careful of calculaions could be upset by "unforseen or unpredictable events".
