Gallagher Re: Global Insured Cat Losses 29% Below Average Through September

Global insured losses from natural catastrophes totaled $92 billion during the first nine months of 2026, dropping 29% below the 10-year average of $128 billion, according to a new report.

The losses were the lowest nine-month total since 2019, Gallagher Re’s Q3 2026 Natural Catastrophe and Climate Report shows.

According to the report out Wednesday, the insurance industry has gone six straight quarters without a single natural catastrophe generating more than $10 billion in insured losses. Fifty-four natural catastrophe events worldwide generated at least $1 billion in economic losses and 24 events produced at least $1 billion in insured losses, in line with historical averages.

However, fewer severe events kept overall losses below average: Global economic losses totaled $242 billion, 33% below the 10-year average of $360 billion.

Severe convective storms continued to account for the largest share of insured catastrophe losses. In the U.S., insurers incurred at least $43 billion in SCS losses through September, the fourth consecutive year that losses from the peril exceeded $40 billion.

Related: Tornado Alley’s on the Move and Creating New Risk Concerns, Modeler Says

While the U.S. total for severe convective storms fell below the five-year average ($47 billion), the total exceeded the 10-year average ($38 billion). The first nine months of 2026 ranked as the sixth costliest period on record for U.S. SCS losses, the report shows.

Hailstorms are among these perils that appear to be doing more damage in recent years. According to a report from Allianz in April, hailstorms drove record insured damages as severe convective storms become more common and damaging, popping up in new places.

According to Verisk, severe thunderstorms now rank among the industry’s most significant catastrophe loss drivers. A report out last year from the firm showed a 59% increase in severe thunderstorm events generating more than $1 billion in insured losses during the period from 2020 to 2024 compared with 2015 to 2019. Frequency perils such as severe thunderstorms, wildfires, winter storms and inland flooding now account for $98 billion of the industry’s modeled $152 billion average annual catastrophe losses.

The Gallagher Re report shows the costliest insured catastrophe worldwide was a severe storm outbreak across the central U.S. from April 22 to May 1 that generated more than $6 billion in insured losses.

Europe recorded at least $9 billion in insured SCS losses. These storms accounted for nearly 60% of insured catastrophe losses globally during the first three quarters of 2026, according to the report.

Wildfires were another growing peril called out in the report. Wildfires generated significant losses in the western U.S., where more than 8.6 million acres burned nationwide through September, up from the 10-year average of 6.1 million acres.

The Spokane Wildfire Complex in Washington, which included the Old Trails, Fairview and Autumn Lane fires, generated nearly $1 billion in insured losses, making it the costliest wildfire event on record for the state’s insurance industry. The fires damaged or destroyed at least 830 structures.

Related: Insured Loss Estimates Top $600M From Washington Fires, Testing New Commissioner

The Atlantic Hurricane season was relatively quiet. Hurricane Isaias, the first major hurricane of the 2026 Atlantic season, made landfall as a Category 2 storm in the Florida Panhandle on Oct. 9. Isaias has so far produced roughly 47,000 claims in Florida, with estimated insured losses at $582 million, carriers have reported to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation.

Hurricanes Lala, Lowell and Nolo impacted the Hawaiian Islands during the third quarter. Lala passed close to the Big Island in mid-August and became Hawaii’s second billion-dollar weather-related economic disaster of the year.

The report also touches on a potentially historic El Niño event. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasts a greater than 81% probability of El Niño maintaining very strong conditions into January 2027. NOAA on Thursday issued its U.S. Winter Outlook, which shows its anticipated influence from December through February.

NOAA’s forecast continues to call for: warmer-than-average temperatures across the northern U.S.; wetter-than-average conditions across the southern U.S., from California to Florida, and along the Eastern Seaboard; and drought conditions improving for most of the country.

Rising temperatures and prolonged drought were also themes addressed in the report. Global temperatures during the period ranked as the second warmest in records dating back to at least 1850.

Much of Europe and the U.S. experienced their warmest June-through-August period on record. Extreme temperatures and drought contributed to wildfires, agricultural losses, transportation disruptions and drought-related insurance claims, according to the rerport.

Gallagher Re’s report shows that drought-related subsidence claims in France could exceed $4 billion.