Aon Benfield has signed Hobart-based IT company Oscilmet to research hailstorms.

Oscilmet will develop a post-event hailstorm analysis tool that will enable Aon Benfield to rank hail events by their expected impact on insurers.

Oscilmet specialises in analysing and interpreting weather data. Insurers use its Hail-Map system to study the development of hailstorms during a storm and afterwards.

The map can be laid over an insurer’s geographic information system.

Oscilmet also has a hail warning system that enables a company or insurers to send policyholders SMS alerts of approaching hailstorms.

Aon Benfield COO Analytics Asia Pacific Rade Musulin says Oscilmet can analyse and interpret weather data to enable near real-time predictions of hail losses, presenting the information in a timely and accessible format.