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Three consecutive record years — $66B in insured losses in 2023, $59B in 2024, and $51B in 2025 — have reshaped how carriers need to think about severe convective storm risk. A new ZestyAI executive briefing on the 2026 SCS season shows the defining feature of these losses isn't storm frequency. It's accumulated structural damage. Within the same ZIP code, sometimes within the same complex, properties exposed to identical storms are producing materially different outcomes — and territory-level analysis is smoothing over the dispersion that actually drives the loss.

About this analysis. Findings are drawn from analysis of recent SCS seasons, IBHS research, and property-level storm segmentation across U.S. portfolios. The full briefing — 2026 Severe Convective Storm Season Overview — is a 16-page executive report covering loss dispersion patterns, peril-specific modeling, and what differentiated underwriting can actually move on portfolio performance.

Want the data? Download the full briefing → — 16 pages, immediate access.

What's driving three consecutive record SCS years?

Severe convective storm losses have accelerated steadily over the past five years, with sustained elevated activity beginning in 2020. The pattern of 2023, 2024, and 2025 — three of the highest insured-loss years on record back to back — isn't random. Underlying storm frequency has increased, but the cumulative effect on the building stock is the part most often underestimated. Each season of hail and wind exposure leaves a portfolio in a slightly more vulnerable state going into the next.

Why doesn't ZIP-code geography explain SCS loss patterns anymore?

Territory-level analysis smooths real differences between buildings. Two homes on the same street can face the same hailstorm and produce very different claims depending on roof age, roof material, prior exposure, defensible space, and the structural state of soft metals like gutters and vents. Blending those properties into a ZIP code average hides volatility that materially changes portfolio performance under stress.

That's the structural-not-geographic shift. Identical storms produce different outcomes because the structures aren't identical — and territory-level segmentation can't see it.

How does accumulated structural damage compound SCS risk?

This is the part of the story regulators and reinsurers are starting to focus on. Small hail events and ongoing weathering degrade roofing systems over time, even when no individual storm triggers a claim. Each marginal event leaves the roof slightly more vulnerable. Over a multi-year SCS cycle, the portfolios most exposed to losses are often the ones that quietly accumulated the most undamaged-but-degraded properties through prior seasons.

The implication is that a portfolio's SCS risk profile in 2026 isn't fully captured by its 2025 loss experience. The risk that didn't claim is still on the books.

Why does peril-specific modeling matter for hail and wind?

Hail, wind, and recurring micro-exposure don't behave the same way within an SCS footprint, even when they're all grouped under the same broad peril category. Hail damage concentrates in dense, often spatially clustered loss events. Straight-line wind produces a different damage signature. Recurring small-hail exposure compounds slowly across seasons. Modeling all three as a single SCS exposure obscures the separation that property-level intelligence can actually pick up — and that differentiated underwriting can actually act on.

What can property-level segmentation actually change?

In a Texas retrospective covered in the briefing, targeted underwriting actions informed by property-level segmentation would have reduced modeled loss cost by 48%. That's the magnitude of separation hiding inside portfolios that look uniform at the territory level. It's also what makes the 2026 question simpler than it sounds: not whether storms will develop, but whether the portfolio is segmented precisely enough before they do.

Get the full briefing

2026 Severe Convective Storm Season Overview →

The executive briefing walks through the multi-year SCS loss pattern, how property-level segmentation separates loss outcomes within the same footprint, and the Texas retrospective showing what differentiated underwriting can move on portfolio performance.

ZestyAI has been named one of the Everest Group’s Top 50™ Property & Casualty (P&C) Insurance Technology Providers for 2026, marking the second consecutive year the company has been recognized for helping shape the future of insurance technology. 

Each year, Everest Group evaluates hundreds of providers across the global insurance technology landscape. The Top 50 ranking highlights providers demonstrating strong market momentum, broad industry impact, and continued investment in advanced technology.

Over the past year, ZestyAI has significantly expanded its platform and product capabilities to help insurers understand and manage property risk with greater precision. This includes the launch of ZORRO, ZestyAI’s agentic AI platform that enables insurers to research markets, analyze regulatory filings, and act on risk intelligence faster.

Everest Group also recognized ZestyAI within the Property and Location Intelligence category—solutions that help insurers evaluate structural, environmental, and catastrophe risk at the individual property level to improve underwriting, pricing accuracy, and operational efficiency.

ZestyAI’s AI-powered models help insurers assess exposure across the most costly perils affecting property portfolios, including wildfire, hail, wind, severe convective storms, and non-weather water damage. Together, these capabilities give insurers a more complete view of risk and the tools to act on it across underwriting, pricing, and portfolio management.

As AI moves from experimentation to enterprise deployment across the insurance industry, ZestyAI continues to invest in technologies that help insurers operate with greater precision, transparency, and confidence.

ZestyAI today announced that Harford Mutual Insurance Group (HMIG) has selected the ZestyAI Platform to enhance property-level exposure insight across its commercial portfolio.

Harford Mutual Insurance is grounding its book in verified, structure-level intelligence — strengthening underwriting discipline and improving visibility into the property characteristics that directly influence loss volatility and portfolio stability.

ZestyAI’s Roof Age delivers verified roof age by cross-validating building permit records with over 20 years of aerial imagery, to detect roof replacement events and assign confidence scores across 97% of U.S. properties. Z-PROPERTY™ further evaluates roof complexity, materials, and condition, and surrounding risk factors that materially impact underwriting outcomes and exposure management.

“With ZestyAI, we have verified property-level intelligence that changes how we evaluate and manage risk,” said Wayne Gearhart, Senior Vice President and COO of Harford Mutual Insurance Group.

“The platform improves our visibility into exposure across the portfolio and supports disciplined, resilient growth in our commercial book.”

“Harford Mutual Insurance has a long history of doing what’s right for its agents and policyholders, and that starts with understanding risk accurately at the property level,” said Attila Toth, Founder and CEO of ZestyAI.

“By grounding decisions in verified property-level intelligence, its team is strengthening underwriting discipline, enhancing portfolio resilience, and setting a strong example for how regional carriers can leverage trusted AI to navigate today’s risk environment.”

ZestyAI works closely with regulators to ensure transparency, validation, and continuous monitoring of its AI-driven models. Its portfolio of risk models has secured more than 200 approvals from regulators nationwide, including in markets served by Harford Mutual Insurance across the Mid-Atlantic and South.

Two insurers operating in hurricane-exposed coastal markets — Southern Oak Insurance Company and Lilypad-Centauri Insurance — are using the ZestyAI platform to bring greater structure-level insight to underwriting and portfolio oversight

As catastrophe volatility intensifies in states like Florida, insurers are increasingly turning to property-level intelligence — including roof condition, parcel characteristics, and structural features — to better understand exposure and manage accumulation risk.

Southern Oak Insurance Company expanded its partnership with ZestyAI following nine months of portfolio impact using Z-PROPERTY™ to analyze structural condition across its Florida homeowners portfolio.

Lilypad-Centauri Insurance adopted Roof Age and Z-PROPERTY™ to improve visibility into roof replacement history, parcel characteristics, and structural exposure across its coastal homeowners and dwelling fire portfolios.

Click here to view the Southern Oak press release.
Click here to view the Lilypad-Centauri press release.

Industry Coverage

Read more from leading publications covering the P&C insurance industry:

PropertyCasualty360 — Who’s Using What in P&C Insurance

Insurance Edge — ZestyAI Wins Over More US Insurers

Insurance Innovation Reporter — Coastal Insurers Adopt ZestyAI Property-Level Intelligence for CAT Risk

Fintech Global — ZestyAI Grows Insurer Partnerships Amid Coastal Volatility

Insurtech Analyst — Coastal Insurers Expand ZestyAI Partnerships for Property Risk

ZestyAI today announced that Horace Mann, the largest national insurer focusing on educators’ financial needs, has selected ZestyAI to support the modernization of its property underwriting operations.

Horace Mann will deploy Z-PROPERTY™, ZestyAI’s property intelligence platform that applies computer vision and machine learning across aerial imagery, building permit records, tax assessment data, and other verified sources to generate insights across more than 70 structural and parcel attributes for 150 million residential and commercial properties nationwide. 

These property-level insights provide clearer visibility into condition and exposure, enabling underwriting teams to better differentiate risk across new business and renewals, streamline workflows, and reduce reliance on traditional inspection-heavy processes.

As part of its underwriting evolution, Horace Mann will leverage ZestyAI’s broader portfolio of property intelligence and peril-specific risk models—including Roof Age, Z-HAIL™, Z-WIND™, Z-STORM™, and Z-WATER™—to evaluate how advanced property intelligence can inform underwriting and rating decisions across weather- and non-weather risks over time.

“This partnership is about rethinking how underwriting decisions are made in a modern property market,” said Vanessa Jackson, SVP, Head of P&C at Horace Mann.

“By bringing scalable, property-level intelligence into our underwriting process, we’re positioning our teams to make faster, more informed decisions today, and to continuously adapt as risk and expectations evolve.”

“Horace Mann is taking a thoughtful, measured approach to underwriting modernization,” said Attila Toth, Founder and CEO of ZestyAI. “By adopting property-level intelligence, they are enhancing underwriting decisions today while building a strong foundation for continued operational improvement.”

"We are proud to support Horace Mann in their mission to provide educators with peace of mind, allowing them to focus on what matters most — shaping the next generation."

ZestyAI supported Horace Mann through a rigorous evaluation process, demonstrating how accurate, complete property-level insight delivered at scale can materially improve enterprise data quality, supporting more reliable underwriting and analytics across the portfolio.

ZestyAI today announced that Southern Oak Insurance Company has expanded its partnership with ZestyAI following nine months of demonstrated impact on portfolio decisions across its Florida homeowners portfolio.

Southern Oak initially adopted ZestyAI in 2025 to gain clearer visibility into property-level risk in one of the most complex and loss-prone insurance markets in the U.S.

Z-PROPERTY applies computer vision and machine learning across aerial imagery, building permits, tax assessment records, and other verified data sources to evaluate properties in 3D—assessing structural condition, exposure, and characteristics that influence claim frequency and severity across perils, including roof complexity, materials, and condition.

Tony Loughman, CEO of Southern Oak Insurance Company, said:

“Within months of deploying ZestyAI, it became clear that property-level intelligence needed to play a larger role in how we evaluate and manage risk. Expanding our partnership allows us to build on that foundation with greater confidence in the data behind our decisions, particularly in a market where roof condition, complexity, and exposure can materially impact outcomes.”

The expanded partnership reflects Southern Oak’s continued focus on proactive risk management in Florida’s volatile insurance environment, where traditional data sources often fail to capture the real condition and vulnerability of individual homes.

“Southern Oak’s decision to expand just nine months in is a strong signal of the value property-level intelligence delivers when it’s put into production,” said Attila Toth, Founder and CEO of ZestyAI.

“With Z-PROPERTY embedded in its risk decisions, Southern Oak sees risk more clearly, acts earlier, and makes more defensible decisions in a highly regulated, high-risk market.”

ZestyAI’s models are built with transparency, validation, and regulatory readiness at the forefront, giving insurers confidence to rely on them in portfolio decisions. The platform is used by leading insurers to improve underwriting accuracy, manage exposure, and reduce loss volatility across weather- and non-weather-driven perils.

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