Actuaries Climate Index Updates for Spring-Summer 2016

Most Recent Index Values Reflect Continued High Frequencies of Extreme Weather Events                            
 
Washington, D.C., Arlington, VA,  Schaumburg, IL, and Ottawa, ON (March 7, 2017) – Today, organizations representing the actuarial profession in Canada and the United States updated the Actuaries Climate Index, an objective, quarterly measure of changes in extreme weather frequency and sea level, available online at ActuariesClimateIndex.org. For the United States and Canada combined, the Actuaries Climate Index value for summer 2016 was 1.72, the third-highest seasonal level recorded.

The Actuaries Climate Index is based on an analysis of quarterly seasonal data for six different index components collected from 1961 to summer 2016, compared to the 30-year reference period of 1961 to 1990. The current five-year moving average for the index is 1.03.

“We have now seen three of the last four seasons having an Actuaries Climate Index value over 1.50, compared to the 30-year reference period, which had no index values above 1.00. The spring and summer 2016 data reflect a continued pattern of increased frequencies of high temperatures and precipitation, and of lower-temperature extremes, compared to the reference period,” said Doug Collins, chair of the Climate Change Committee. “We collected this data from neutral, scientific sources, and our members—actuaries—have developed these evidence-based results on extreme weather events.”