Insurance experts worry about disappearing US climate data

Reliable long-term measurements are crucial to evaluating climate and weather risks, the experts said.

The insurance industry already is struggling to keep pace with disasters made worse by climate change, including floods, hurricanes and wildfires.

Now, it has another worry: the looming threat that federal climate data may disappear.

The information helps experts evaluate weather-related risks, and there’s a growing concern the data could fall by the wayside as President Donald Trump seeks to implement widespread budget and staffing cuts across the federal government.

“We need reliable, long datasets,” said Kieran Bhatia, head of climate and sustainability for North America at the global reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter. “Without them, you basically are kind of putting your finger up to the wind a little bit about what is a realistic [extreme weather] event.”

Cover photo:  Meteorologist Aidan Mahoney works at the National Hurricane Center on May 30. Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images