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Steve Bowen @stevebowen.bsky.social · 14h

An escalation of wood / furniture pricing will drive higher replacement costs and more expensive insurance claims from natural catastrophes.

Bloomberg News @bloomberg.com · 14h

US homebuilders and retailers warn that higher costs could push housing prices and furniture costs higher as the trade fight over wood products escalates once again. Here’s what to know.

Trump’s Wood Tariffs Are Coming. Who Will Be Hit Hardest

President Donald Trump unveiled sweeping tariffs on imported lumber and wood products that his administration says are needed to protect the US economy and boost domestic manufacturing. Starting Oct. 14, softwood lumber will face 10% duties, while kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities, and other finished wood goods will be hit with 25% tariffs that rise further in January.

bloom.bg

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Steve Bowen @stevebowen.bsky.social · 3d

Reminder that the EF scale is damage based; not wind based. We've almost certainly had EF5 intensity twisters touch down since 2013 but no observed damage to justify the rating -- which is subjective.

Had the Enderlin, ND not hit train cars, it conceivably would not have achieved its EF5 rating.

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Steve Bowen @stevebowen.bsky.social · 3d

Update: The Grand Forks, North Dakota NWS office has confirmed that an EF5 tornado touched down on June 20, 2025.

This means that a modern record streak without an EF5 tornado ended after 4,413 days.

Even more miraculously? This occurred in the midst of a derecho, which is very unexpected.

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Steve Bowen @stevebowen.bsky.social · 6d

***Another New Paper Alert***

We dive into the relationship of ENSO phase and rapid intensification (RI).

Since 1980: We find that >80% of hurricanes that strike the US mainland, and cause >$5bn in economic damage, go through RI in its lifecycle.

agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...

The Global Influence of ENSO on Rapid Intensification of Tropical Cyclones

Frequency of rapid intensification differs considerably for individual tropical cyclone basins and different ENSO phases Atlantic rapid intensification occurs more frequently in La Niña and less ...

agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Steve Bowen @stevebowen.bsky.social · 7d

Katharine -- Sorry we missed one another last week! I was only in NYC for 2.5 days and my calendar was packed.

100% agree that progress is underway. More businesses are starting to make legit and meaningful steps forward. Is it enough? Not yet. But we need to celebrate the wins and push for more.

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Steve Bowen @stevebowen.bsky.social · 7d

None of this stuff is an exact science. It's extremely hard to do. But just throwing some constant state "business as usual" scenarios through a macroeconomic model and concluding some enormous GDP value does not really add much usefulness to any business planning.

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Steve Bowen @stevebowen.bsky.social · 7d

Perhaps a provocative take:

I'm not a big fan of studies that try to quantify future climate-related losses simply in the context of GDP. Trying to mix climate scenarios with macroeconomic modeling does not account for all the unique nuances linked to "future state" risk.

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Steve Bowen @stevebowen.bsky.social · 9d

The best season in sports is postseason.

#Cubs

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Steve Bowen @stevebowen.bsky.social · 9d

***New Paper Alert***

While the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season feels like a decade ago, here is a paper that does a deep dive into the headscratching "mid-season lull".

This line-up of co-authors is incredible, and very humbling to be part of it.
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...

The Remarkable 2024 North Atlantic Mid‐Season Hurricane Lull

Following an active start, the 2024 Atlantic hurricane was quiet during the climatological peak with only 1 tropical storm and 1 hurricane The lull was not anticipated by seasonal forecasting age...

agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Steve Bowen @stevebowen.bsky.social · 10d

Odd.

Category 4 hurricane (Humberto) and strong Tropical Storm (Imelda) this close to the US -- with minimal landfall threat.

Humberto will soon metaphorically take Imelda by the hand and drag them both eastward into the Atlantic.

Bermuda and its excellent building codes are ready, if necessary.

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Steve Bowen @stevebowen.bsky.social · 17d

Terrific first full day at NYC Climate Week.

The best sessions to participate in are the ones that bring people together to discuss actual solutions to climate / sustainability challenges.

We should be long past the point of having events that just rehash talking points of what we already know.

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Steve Bowen @stevebowen.bsky.social · 18d

The Western Pacific has roared to life. Category 5 equivalent Ragasa to pass just north of the Philippines. Outer bands and an influence of steering flow moisture will bring flood risk to the Philippines and Taiwan. Weakening will occur prior to likely landfall in China / Vietnam in the coming days.

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Steve Bowen @stevebowen.bsky.social · 19d

Excellent job by Notre Dame Stadium staff to get 80,000 people evacuated ahead of the first drops of rain and lightning getting too close.

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Steve Bowen @stevebowen.bsky.social · 22d

Like being a kid in the nerdiest scientific candy store.

So much important and critical research is being conducted here to better understand how to prepare our communities for natural catastrophe risk.

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Steve Bowen @stevebowen.bsky.social · 25d

This was a really good article. It discusses the nuances of what (kinda) works in the carbon capture / sequestration space and the huge concerns on leakage if not done right.

At the end of the day, what we truly need is to solve the root problem: transition away from burning fossil fuels.

Chicago Tribune @chicagotribune.com · 25d

Carbon capture isn’t new, but in recent years it’s been gaining popularity among fuel manufacturers and policymakers.

In central Illinois, carbon capture project’s proximity to Mahomet Aquifer raises fears

Illinois ranks third nationally in ethanol production and carbon sequestration could play a major role in helping industries reach climate targets.

www.chicagotribune.com

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Steve Bowen @stevebowen.bsky.social · 28d

Just took the headline screenshot from this article:

www.marketwatch.com/story/jobles...

First-time unemployment claims at highest level since 2021 — but most of the increase is tied to Texas flooding

Initial jobless claims rose by 27,000 to 263,000 in the week that ended Sept. 6, the Labor Department said Thursday.

www.marketwatch.com

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Steve Bowen @stevebowen.bsky.social · 28d

Extreme weather / climate change risk is a societal AND economic risk.

The connections are clear, but the messaging of that reality does not fully land with the public until, sadly, they are directly affected themselves.

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Steve Bowen @stevebowen.bsky.social · 29d

Today (September 10) marks the historical peak of the Atlantic hurricane season. 2025, thus far, has been unusually quiet, but there is still a lot of season left to go.

This graphic looks at US hurricane landfalls by day since 1950. Note that 43% of historical landfalls have occurred after Sep 10.

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Steve Bowen @stevebowen.bsky.social · Sep 7

The last few reinsurance renewal cycles (April 1, June 1, July 1) have shown a >10% pricing decline in some markets. Not all. Supply currently overall outstrips demand. Unless a "mega" insured event ($100-115+ billion) occurs, the "soft" market will continue into January 1 renewals.

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Steve Bowen @stevebowen.bsky.social · Sep 7

Reinsurers have scaled back covering certain perils and/or regions over the last few years, lifted coverage layers, and left primaries to pay much more of the disaster costs themselves. The lack of a "mega" disaster to eat into reinsurance earnings have left them flush with record capital.

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Steve Bowen @stevebowen.bsky.social · Sep 5

Today I was given the chance to host a listener segment on the new "Maximum Metallica" channel on SiriusXM.

Playlist
🤘Blackened
🤘Stone Cold Crazy (Live; Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert)
🤘The Outlaw Torn
🤘The Four Horsemen
🤘Master of Puppets

Thank you to Metallica and SiriusXM for the opportunity!

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Steve Bowen @stevebowen.bsky.social · Sep 2

September 2: All indications that the Atlantic is about to wake up pretty quickly in the next few weeks. Atmospheric and oceanic conditions very favorable for development.

The question, as always, is if storms do develop, what are the steering currents that drive where they go.

Stay tuned.

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Steve Bowen @stevebowen.bsky.social · Aug 29

A few years ago, I obtained a fully intact Sunday, August 28, 2005 edition of The Times-Picayune newspaper.

It was apparently found in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward in the days after Katrina had made landfall.

A hugely emotional and deeply humbling artifact of history.

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Steve Bowen @stevebowen.bsky.social · Aug 29

Thanks for reading.

If interested, I wrote a lengthy piece on the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season in Gallagher Re's H1 Natural Catastrophe and Climate Report that goes into even more detail.

Find it here: www.ajg.com/gallagherre/...

(11/11)

www.ajg.com

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Steve Bowen @stevebowen.bsky.social · Aug 29

We must shift our mindset with natural catastrophes from reactive to proactive. We know more events will come. We see the fingerprints of climate change grow more evident. We know what communities have the highest risk.

We should no longer be surprised.

We have enough tools to be prepared.

(10/n)

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