Ah, fall. Crisp air, light winds and a chance to finally wearthose sweaters that have been stashed in the closet all summer.

Sounds nice, right?

But there's trouble around the corner.

According to the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.), therelatively mild autumn that many of us are enjoying could soon giveway to a historically rough winter, with below-normal temperaturespredicted for at least three-quarters of the country.

"The 2015 Farmers’ Almanac predicts 'copiousamounts of snow and rain' over the eastern third of the country,"writes the I.I.I. "In fact, along the Atlantic Seaboard activewintry weather is expected for the first 10 days of January and thefirst week of February with bouts of heavy snow and strongwinds."

Sounds like fun.

And, given the fact that winter storms are the third-largestcause of catastrophic losses, behind hurricans and tornadoes, withsome $1.9 billion in insured losses in 2013, it could be anexpensive season for homeowners and insurers alike. It's also worthnoting that this trend is on the rise. In 2012, winter storms onlycaused $38 million in insured losses, according to Munich Re, andbetween 1993 and 2012 these types events caused $28 billion ininsured catastrophic losses in total, averaging out to about $1billion per year.

As it stands, water damage and freezing incidents acount foralmost 22% of all homeowners insurance claims, at an average of$4,024 per claim. Flooding related to snow melt is a common problemin the late winter and can overburden sewer systems, causing sewagebackups and other water damage.