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Insurance

Weather intelligence for insurance and risk transfer

Decision-grade weather data, proprietary indices, and forecasting tools for parametric insurance, weather derivatives, and claims validation.

Weather and insurance

The data standard for parametric weather risk

Weather-linked financial products require data held to a higher standard than general-purpose weather services can provide. When a payout hinges on whether a temperature threshold was breached at a specific station on a specific day, the quality, independence, and auditability of the underlying data is the product itself.

Xweather delivers the datasets, indices, and analytical tools that reinsurers, brokers, and risk teams rely on to structure, price, and settle parametric insurance and weather derivatives. Three index families covering agriculture, energy, and renewables serve the fastest-growing segments of the weather risk transfer market. Data is sourced directly from national meteorological services, validated through statistical cleaning by an expert meteorological team, and delivered with full documentation and audit trails.

For property and casualty insurers, Xweather provides historical weather verification and real-time severe weather data to support claims validation and underwriting. Lightning strike records with sub-100 meter accuracy, hail event histories, and storm path archives help adjusters verify whether reported damage aligns with documented conditions at a specific location and time.

Parametric structuring and pricing

Cleaned historical records, proprietary weather indices, and forecasts for quants and structurers building parametric risk transfer products across agriculture, energy, and renewable markets.

Weather risk data

Renewable energy portfolio risk

Wind and solar generation forecasts, portfolio analytics, and customizable hedging tools for operators, traders, and investors managing weather-driven production risk across assets and markets.

Xweather Powerup

Settlement services

The provision of independently certified indices to determine the outcome of financial or insurance contracts.

Settlement services

Claims validation and forensics

Historical lightning, hail, and storm data with precise geolocation and timing to verify whether reported damage matches documented weather events at the claimed location and date.

Weather API
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40% of Fortune 100 rely on Xweather

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It started with one temperature deal in 1996. Now it is a $25B market reshaping how the world manages climate risk.

David Whitehead
Head of Weather Risk Management

It started with one temperature deal in 1996. Now it is a $25B market reshaping how the world manages climate risk.

In 1996, Aquila Energy and Con Edison structured a power purchase agreement that would change risk management forever. Their August electricity deal was tied to Cooling Degree Days measured in New York's Central Park, a straightforward concept that represented a fundamental shift in how companies could manage weather-related financial exposure.

No damage assessments. No claims adjusters. No lengthy disputes over what constitutes a "loss." If the temperature index hits certain thresholds, payments are triggered automatically. It was elegant, immediate, and marked the birth of what we now call weather risk management.

Nearly three decades later, that foundational transaction has evolved into a sophisticated risk management approach. The principle remains the same: when weather hits predefined triggers, payouts flow automatically. But the scale, speed, and applications have expanded dramatically as climate volatility reshapes entire industries. 

What started as a simple temperature contract has become something far more ambitious. The Xweather team, formerly Speedwell, has been at the forefront of this expansion, transforming a niche energy tool into a $25 billion global market.

The scope expanded beyond anyone's expectations:

  • Basic temperature hedges expanded into sea surface temperature, visibility, air quality, snow depth, and renewable power production

  • Applications spread from energy into retail, construction, agriculture, tourism, transportation, and even humanitarian aid

  • Geographic reach went global, from Vietnam's coffee belt to French river heights to Chilean snow depth

The infrastructure matured:

  • Over-the-counter deals evolved into standardized exchange-traded products

  • Spreadsheet-based risk management gave way to integrated weather risk management solutions

  • Datasets once too uncertain for commercial use became tradable through settlement services

The market represents something powerful: what happens when creativity, technology, and finance come together to solve real-world problems. Weather risk management may not solve every challenge, but it plays a vital role in helping society adapt and thrive amid climate, economic, and social disruption.

Precision across the risk lifecycle

Insurance and reinsurance operate on trust in the underlying data. Xweather serves the market with structured risk products that transfer weather exposure and the operational weather data that validates individual claims.

Data independence

Observations directly from national meteorological services. No intermediary processing or third-party aggregation between the source station and the analysis. Full provenance documentation for all data.

Weather risk data

Advanced Modelling

Powerup provides analytics to manage weather risk in renewable energy portfolios. It delivers clear insights for better forecasting and decision-making.

Powerup

Settlement integrity

Certified weather and climate observations, rigorously documented methodologies, and independent data validation support post-deal settlement with transparency at every stage.

Xweather settlement services

Severe weather historical records

Lightning strike data with millisecond precision and sub-100 meter accuracy, hail event histories, and severe weather archives let claims teams verify conditions for a specific address and date.

Weather API
User

Global reinsurer structuring weather-linked products

Challenge

Needs independently sourced, statistically cleaned weather data across diverse global locations to structure and price parametric products with confidence. Settlement disputes erode market trust when data quality is questioned.

Solution

Xweather provides unlimited access to cleaned surface observations from 100,000 global reference sites, three proprietary index families for agriculture, energy, and renewables, and ongoing data feeds. The Speedwell SuperPack legacy ensures continuity for existing market participants.

Impact
  • 100,000+ reference sites across global markets

  • Three index families with 500+ indices

  • $1B+ in risk transfer supported by the data

Coverage

Parametric structuring, pricing, and settlement

From pre-deal data analysis and index selection through post-deal settlement execution, Xweather provides the complete data infrastructure for the parametric insurance lifecycle.

A world map showing Vaisala Xweather weather sensor locations, with dense light clusters in North America, Europe, and Asia, and fewer in Africa and Australia.
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global reference sites for surface observations

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proprietary weather indices across three families

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years of Speedwell expertise, now part of Xweather

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index families: agriculture, wind, and solar

Product highlight

Weather risk data, originally from Speedwell

The weather risk data portfolio, built on the Speedwell Climate legacy, has supported over $1 billion in global weather risk transfer.

$1B+ in global risk transfer supported

Over two decades of Speedwell Climate expertise, now expanded under Xweather with broader global coverage and integration into Vaisala's measurement infrastructure.

Three index families

Agriculture, energy, and renewable indices designed for parametric structuring and pricing. Each family includes historical baselines, ongoing feeds, forecasts, and analytics tools for pattern analysis and risk quantification.

Direct from national met services

Surface observations acquired directly from national meteorological services through longstanding partnerships. Nearly 100,000 global reference sites with full provenance documentation for auditability.

Explore weather risk data

Product portfolio

Weather risk data

Decision-grade weather data, forecasts, and proprietary indices for parametric insurance and weather-linked risk transfer. Three index families for agriculture, wind, and solar, sourced from national meteorological services and validated through statistical cleaning.

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Settlement services

End-to-end management of the settlement data process for weather derivatives and parametric contracts. Certified observations, documented methodologies, independent data validation, and full audit trail transparency.

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Xweather Powerup

Portfolio analytics for renewable energy. Wind and solar forecasts, Speedwell-derived production indices, and customizable hedging tools for operators, traders, and investors managing weather-driven portfolio risk across assets and markets.

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Weather API and lightning data

Historical and real-time lightning, hail, and severe weather data for claims validation and forensic analysis. Strike-level precision with error ellipses, damage potential ratings, and archives from 2016 to present. API integration for automated verification workflows.

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Talk to our weather risk specialists

For teams that structure parametric products, validate claims, or manage weather-driven portfolio risk, Xweather can match the right data to the requirement.

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