Adjusting for a Changing Climate

Editorial Series September 2026 Vol. 4 Issue. 7

Welcome to this month’s editorial series, "Adjusting for a Changing Climate." Adjusters were among the first people in the country to notice that the weather had changed, because they were the ones standing in the results. Hail in counties that never used to see it. Rainfall totals that turned a flood map into a historical document. A fire that crossed six lanes of highway and burned a suburb in December. The loss patterns that underwriters, builders, and code officials rely on were built on decades of data that no longer describe the ground adjusters are walking.

This series takes the climate conversation out of the policy debate and into the claim file. We look at what shifting wind and water exposure means for adjusters deployed to regions with no history of it, how wildfire has become an urban peril with its own claims problems, what a deep freeze does to a housing stock built for heat, and why the homes we are paying to rebuild are often being rebuilt to codes that have not caught up with the risk.

The articles are practical by design. Each one covers the coverage questions that come up, the field realities that catch adjusters off guard, the conversations with policyholders that have gotten harder, and the habits that separate adjusters who handle these events well from those who get buried by them. The volume is already here, and so are the claimants.

The Second Storm Hits First

Allocating Damage When a New Loss Arrives Before the Previous One Has Been Repaired

Back-to-back seasons often put a second storm on a house before the first repair is done. How to separate the two claims so the same damage is not paid twice and the new damage is not denied as old.

September 22 Chris Walters

The Deductible on the Declarations Page

Named Storm and Percentage Wind Deductibles Showing Up in New Places and the Math Policyholders Did Not Plan For

A flat $1,000 deductible is no longer the number on a growing share of policies, including policies well inland. How percentage wind and named-storm deductibles are calculated, why the trigger language decides whether they apply, and what to say when the deductible exceeds the repair.

September 22 Chris Walters

Cracks in a Dry Year

Separating Drought Shrinkage Plumbing Leaks and Excluded Earth Movement on a Foundation Claim

After a long dry spell, brick cracks and doors stick, and the homeowner reports a claim. Four causes produce the same cracks. How to separate drought shrinkage from a slab leak, and which answers the policy will pay.

September 22 Chris Walters

The Rain After the Fire

Debris Flows, Mudflows, and the Coverage Split Between Earth Movement and Flood on a Burn Scar

A house can survive the wildfire and still be wrecked by the first hard rain on the burned slope above it. Why one neighbor's flood policy pays and another's homeowners policy does not, and what to document before the debris is hauled away.

September 22 Chris Walters

Hail on Roofs That Were Never Rated for It

Reading Shingle Damage Cosmetic Endorsements and Storm Chasing Contractors in Markets That Used to Worry About Rain

Damaging hail is falling on roofs specified for wind and rain, in cities whose contractors built their businesses on hurricanes. How to read a bruised shingle, apply a cosmetic-damage endorsement, and deal with the roofer who got there first.

September 22 Chris Walters

The Map Is Out of Date

Why Decades of Loss History No Longer Predict Where the Next Catastrophe Will Land and What That Means for the Adjuster Deployed to It

Severe storms, floods, fires, and freezes are landing in places with no loss history, and the models, codes, and instincts built on that history are falling behind. What an adjuster deployed to unfamiliar territory should expect and how to prepare.

September 10 Chris Walters

Water Where It Never Went Before

Handling Inland Flood and Extreme Rainfall Claims in Communities That Never Thought They Needed Flood Coverage

Extreme rainfall is flooding communities that never bought flood coverage, and adjusters are the ones explaining the exclusion. Using Helene and other inland floods, this article covers the coverage determinations, NFIP coordination, and the hardest conversation in property claims.

September 10 Chris Walters

When Fire Behaves Differently

Urban Conflagration Ember Spread and Smoke Claims in a Wildfire Era That No Longer Stays in the Wildland

Wildfire now burns suburbs in winter and destroys thousands of structures in a night. A field guide to total losses, smoke and ash claims in standing homes, split FAIR Plan policies, and the long displacement that follows.

September 10 Chris Walters

Cold in Places That Never Planned for It

Freeze Losses Burst Pipes and Grid Failures in a Housing Stock Built for Heat

A hard freeze in a region built for heat bursts pipes in a large share of homes within the same 72 hours. Five claim scenarios work through the maintenance-of-heat provision, commercial sprinkler losses, and how to handle the surge.

September 10 Chris Walters

Rebuilding to a Code That Hasn't Caught Up

Ordinance or Law Coverage Resilient Construction and the Widening Gap Between What Was Lost and What Must Be Built

The house that was lost was built to a code that no longer applies, and the rebuild will cost more than the policy contemplated. How to handle the three conversations on every major rebuild, with the policyholder, the contractor, and the building department.

September 10 Chris Walters