Paid on the Forecast, Not the Damage.
Financial protection when the weather, not a fire or storm, costs you money
Weather insurance pays a business for financial loss caused by adverse or unexpected weather, even when nothing is physically damaged. That is what separates it from standard property and business income coverage, which require direct physical damage before they respond. When rain empties a festival, a warm winter starves a ski resort, or a wet quarter stalls a construction schedule, weather insurance addresses the revenue and cost impact that ordinary policies leave untouched.
Its most powerful form is parametric: coverage that pays a preset amount automatically when an objective, measured weather trigger is hit — settled in days, with no claims investigation and no requirement to prove exactly how the weather hurt you.
What Weather Insurance Covers
Weather insurance comes in two structures, differing in how a payout is triggered:
Indemnity Weather CoverageA traditional contract that pays the insured's actual proven financial loss caused by a defined adverse weather event.
Parametric Weather Coverage — Pays a pre-agreed amount automatically when a measured index — such as rainfall, temperature, wind speed, or snowfall — crosses a defined trigger at a defined location and time, regardless of physical damage.
Revenue & Attendance Protection — Covers the income lost when weather suppresses turnout or demand, including partial losses an event still incurs when it goes ahead.
Weather-Driven Cost Protection — Offsets added costs weather imposes, such as construction standby time or municipal snow-removal overruns.
What It Does Not Cover
Weather insurance is defined by its trigger, which creates specific limits:
Physical damage to buildings, equipment, and stock, which belongs to property and business income coverage
Any loss when the measured index does not cross the trigger — even a genuine loss
Losses outside the defined measurement location, period, or index
Non-weather causes of cancellation, which belong to event cancellation coverage
Who Needs Weather Insurance
Any business whose revenue or costs swing with the weather is a candidate, including:
Outdoor events, festivals, concerts, sports, fairs, and weddings
Construction firms exposed to rain, freeze, and high-wind delays
Agriculture and agribusiness facing drought, excess rain, frost, and heat
Tourism, hospitality, and ski resorts dependent on seasonal weather
Energy and renewables, including wind and solar generators and utilities
How Coverage Is Structured
Parametric structuring is where most of the design work happens, and basis risk is the key concept:
An indemnity form pays proven loss, while a parametric form pays on a measured index
The trigger is a defined meteorological variable at a named weather station or data source over a set window, such as rainfall over a threshold during event hours
Payout can be binary (all or nothing), tiered as the index worsens, or linear per unit beyond the strike
Independent third-party data determines the outcome, so settlement is fast and needs no loss adjuster
Basis risk — the gap between the index payout and the actual loss — is the central limitation, reduced by choosing the nearest representative station and matching the index tightly to the real driver of loss
Real-World Claim Examples
A two-day festival is paid within days when rainfall exceeds the trigger during show hours, offsetting lost gate and concession revenue
A ski resort recovers a set payout when seasonal snowfall finishes below the agreed depth, though no property was damaged
A contractor receives scheduled payouts for each rain day above the expected baseline over the project window
A solar farm is paid when measured irradiance falls below a strike, stabilizing revenue through a cloudy stretch
A farmer expecting a drought payout at rainfall below a threshold records just above it, suffers real crop stress, and receives nothing — the basis-risk caution
Why Proper Placement Matters
Structuring the index well is the whole underwriting exercise, so placement turns on:
Setting a trigger that closely tracks real-world loss conditions to limit basis risk
Choosing a weather station genuinely representative of the exposure
Not assuming standard property or business income will pay for weather-driven revenue loss — it won't, without physical damage
Distinguishing weather coverage from event cancellation, which pays only when an event is actually called off
Accessing the specialty and surplus-lines markets and parametric specialists that write this risk
Regulatory & Contract Context
A key structuring question is whether the product is written as insurance — which requires the insured to have a genuine weather exposure, an insurable interest — or as a weather derivative, a financial instrument regulated under securities and commodities law. Proper parametric insurance is structured so the insured has a real exposure, keeping it on the insurance side of that line. Because payment is determined by the contract rather than a loss adjustment, the policy must precisely define the index, data source, location, period, trigger, unit value, and limit, and it sits alongside — not inside — the property program, which is why it is usually placed through specialty channels.
Our Approach
At Cory Washington & Co., we treat weather coverage as an engineering problem as much as an insurance one — building the index and trigger to track how weather actually hits your revenue, choosing the station that represents your site, and structuring the payout to minimize basis risk. We access the parametric and surplus-lines markets that write this risk and coordinate it with your property and event coverage so the weather gap is genuinely closed. We also insure related exposures, including event cancellation, business interruption, and special event coverage.
Our goal is a payout that lands fast and lines up with the loss — not a policy that misses because the trigger was set in the wrong place.
All insurance descriptions on this website are provided by Cory Washington & Co. LLC strictly for general informational purposes. They are not intended to be, and should not be relied upon as, legal, financial, or insurance advice. The information presented is general in nature and does not guarantee the availability, terms, conditions, or scope of any insurance coverage. Actual coverage is determined solely by the specific policy language issued by the insurer and remains subject to underwriting approval. Nothing on this website creates or implies an agent-client relationship, binds coverage, or alters any existing policy. Cory Washington & Co. LLC expressly disclaims any liability for actions taken, or not taken, based on the content provided here. For advice regarding your particular situation, please consult directly with a licensed insurance professional at Cory Washington & Co. LLC or another qualified insurance professional, and always review your policy documents in full.
See what to confirm in a weather policy — what's standard, what's often limited, and what to add if needed — plus the gap most often missed, in the Weather Policy Feature Checklist.
Complete the Weather Supplemental online in a few guided steps, download the fillable PDF, or browse all applications.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get weather insurance through Cory Washington & Co.?
Request a quote or contact our team. We start with a short conversation about your operations, analyze your exposures, then negotiate weather insurance across multiple carriers that compete for your account and present options with the trade-offs explained. Cory Washington & Co. LLC is licensed in all 50 states.
What drives the cost of weather insurance?
Premiums vary from business to business. The main drivers of weather insurance pricing are the nature of your operations, your revenue and payroll, your loss history, and the limits you carry. Rather than quote a flat figure, we negotiate across several markets and walk you through the options, so you only pay for the protection you actually need.
Do I need weather insurance?
It depends on your situation. Some coverage is required by law; more often, weather insurance is required by a contract, lease, lender, or client before they will do business with you — and even when it is not mandated, it guards against exposures that can be severe. We review your operations and obligations and tell you plainly what you need and why.
What if another agency has already declined or non-renewed my coverage?
Difficult, specialty, and previously-declined placements are a core part of our work. We access excess & surplus (E&S) and specialty markets that many generalist agencies cannot, and we explain the trade-offs clearly so you can decide with confidence.
Available in all 50 states. See how requirements differ in California, Texas, Florida, New York, or choose your state.