Severe convective storms are increasingly impacting property insurance costs in the U.S., with rising insured losses prompting changes that affect homeowners’ monthly budgets. The CoreLogic® 2025 Severe Convective Storm Risk Report provides a detailed look at how frequent, smaller-scale events like hail, tornadoes, and high winds are cumulatively driving costs—and what that means for risk management in the insurance industry.
Overview of the Report
The report outlines the growing concerns surrounding property insurance: ● increasing natural disaster frequency and severity
● Rising reconstruction costs due to cumulative losses from severe convective storms
● The influence of inflation and expanding development on risk exposure
Data and analysis from CoreLogic Weather Forensics and Weather Verification Technology serve as the basis for these insights.
A Year in Review
The report provides a snapshot of recent severe weather impacts: ● damaging hail (two inches or greater) affected over 567,000 homes nationwide, totaling about $160 billion in reconstruction cost value
● Texas led the impact with more than 180,000 homes affected, followed by Nebraska, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Kansas, which together accounted for approximately 72% of the damage
● 133 days of damaging hail were recorded last year, surpassing the 20-year average of 121 days
● Outbreak-type severe weather days, marked by concentrated yet intense events, resulted in rapid claim surges, as seen in the Sept. 24 Oklahoma City event
Key Risk Assessments
The report employs proprietary risk score models to assess property vulnerability to severe weather:
Hailstorm Risk
● Over 41 million homes are at moderate or greater risk to hail of one inch or greater
● Early half of these properties are in Texas, Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, and Minnesota
Tornado Wind Risk
● An estimated 66 million homes face moderate or greater risk from EF0 tornado winds and above
● Significant exposure is found in Texas, Florida, Illinois, Georgia, and North Carolina
Straight-Line Wind Risk
● Approximately 53 million homes are at risk from winds of 65 mph or greater
● States like Texas, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio, and Michigan feature prominently in this risk assessment
Across these categories, the Chicago metropolitan area consistently ranks as one of the highest-risk regions, with substantial numbers of homes and high reconstruction cost values attributed to each threat.
Implications for Homeowners and Insurers
The evolving patterns of severe convective storms carry significant implications: ● insurers must adjust resource allocation and pricing models to handle claim surges during outbreak events
● Advanced data tools, such as CoreLogic Weather Verification Technology, help in precisely attributing damage and expediting claims processing
● Understanding these risk patterns is essential for long-term resilience planning, ensuring that policies and mitigation strategies evolve alongside changing climate dynamics
For More Information
For a deeper dive into the data and comprehensive insights from the report, please visit CoreLogic’s Severe Convective Storm Risk Report.