The weather market, which grew only slowly during its early stages in the late 1990s, has experienced tremendous growth of late. The most recent Weather Risk Management Association (WRMA) survey has revealed that the notional value of weather derivatives traded globally from April 2005 to March 2006 increased fivefold, up to $45 billion. Some analysts are now optimistically forecasting a market in the trillions of dollars.

So far, most of this growth has occurred in the US. While Europe and Asia