With hurricane season beginning on June 1, insurers andinvestors are looking for ways to predict what effect the stormsmight have on the industry.

To help companies estimate the level of losses they might incur,Fitch Ratings released a special report on May 28, titled“Hurricane Season 2015: A Desk Reference for Insurance Investors,”which analyzes the potential effects of a major storm season onlarge insurance companies and the industry as a whole. The reportalso compares forecasts for the 2015 hurricane season from severalmarket experts, including National Oceanic and AtmosphericAdministration (NOAA), Colorado State University (CSU) and TropicalStorm Research (TSR).

The experts are leaning toward a less severe North Atlantichurricane season in 2015. If projections hold true, Florida couldreach 10 consecutive years without a hurricane landfall. The lastnamed storm to make landfall in Florida was Hurricane Wilma on Oct.24, 2005. That year was the most active hurricane season everrecorded, and included Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita amongthe named storms.

[Related: NOAA predicts below-normal hurricane season]

Fitch estimates that given the current substantial level ofindustry capitalization, it would likely take a record individualstorm loss or a series of significant losses equal to 15% or moreof industry aggregate surplus before the property and casualtysector outlook would become negative based on catastropheexperience.

State-sponsored insurers continue to turn to the capital marketsfor alternative methods of transferring catastrophe risks,according to Fitch. The report found that the continued lowinterest rate environment, along with the tendency ofstate-sponsored insurers to use alternatives to the traditionalinsurance risk transfer market, has generated significant growth in2015 with repeat sponsors and new entrants issuing $1.4 billion ofnotes in the first half of 2015 with named storms as a triggerperil. This year’s growth was started by the Texas WindstormInsurance Association (TWIA), which issued two tranches of notestotaling $700 million, making it the largest issuance in the marketso far this year.

The full report, “Hurricane Season 2015: A Desk Reference forInsurance Investors,” is available on the Fitch Ratings web site to paidsubscribers.