Do Not Use the ICAT Hurricane Loss “Dataset”: An Opportunity for Course Correction in Climate Science

A fatally flawed time series of U.S. hurricane losses assembled by an insurance company almost a decade ago has found its way into analyses published in the peer-reviewed literature. The flawed time series is based on undocumented modifications to a research-quality dataset that I and my colleagues published almost two decades ago. The uncritical use of the time series has led to erroneous conclusions published in the peer-reviewed literature which then were repeated in important climate science assessments. This paper explains the origin of the flawed dataset and demonstrates its many biases. The errors are so obvious and consequential that papers published in the peer-reviewed literature that rely on the flawed dataset should be retracted. While mistakes happen in science, what matters more is what we in the community do when mistakes are discovered.