Abstract:
Moody's RMS HWind is a robust observation-based tropical cyclone data platform that delivers critical insights into hurricane wind strength and extent for real-time event preparation, response, and post-event assessment. Developed over 30+ years by research scientists across various sectors, HWind has become the industry standard for assessing tropical cyclone damage characteristics during and after landfall.
The suite of HWind real-time analysis products, referred to as snapshots and cumulative footprints, integrate data from over 30 observation sources including aircraft reconnaissance, dropsondes, airborne Doppler radar, buoys, satellites, and coastal and inland surface networks. After applying automated standardizations on these measurements, analysts on the HWind team use expert judgment to quality control this data in real-time, enhancing accuracy in the resulting analyses of the tropical cyclone’s surface wind field. In addition, by leveraging forecasting data available from world-leading modeling centers, HWind provides five-day forecast track scenarios, intensity guidance, hazard footprints, and loss estimates updated as frequently as every six hours for Atlantic tropical cyclones. These forecasting products rely on a multi-model ensemble approach to provide clients with measures of forecast uncertainty for a given event, and products are carefully selected to quickly and clearly express the range of possible outcomes from both a hazard and loss perspective.
Primary users of HWind products include reinsurers, insurers, brokers, capital markets, government agencies, and academic institutions. While the core of much of HWind’s methodology has remained consistent over the years, the HWind product offerings continue to evolve and be enhanced, incorporating new data sources and refining processes to provide the most accurate and timely tropical cyclone risk assessment tools available in the market today.