Slow Hurricane Season? How Adjusters and IA Firms Can Use It

No hurricane made landfall in the United States in 2025, and the 2026 season has been one of the quietest in years. For a profession built around catastrophe, that quiet is not restful. Independent adjusters have gone long stretches without deployment income. Firms are holding rosters together with less work to give them. Everyone in the CAT world is feeling it. But a slow season is not a season off. It is the rare stretch of calm in which the habits, skills, and readiness that decide the next storm can actually be built.

Key takeaways

The strain is real — and it is not a personal failing.
Calm is the only time preparation can happen without pressure.
Adjusters can upskill at almost no cost with a weekly plan.
Firms that keep their roster close and use bench time well will be ready first.
Storms return. The adjusters who stayed sharp will be the ones firms call.

The quiet is real, and so is the strain

No hurricane made U.S. landfall in 2025 — Tropical Storm Chantal was the only tropical system to come ashore — even though four major hurricanes formed that season. In 2026, El Niño conditions suppressed Atlantic activity, and forecasters called for a below-normal season. For catastrophe adjusters, fewer landfalls means fewer deployments and less income. For firms, it means fewer claims to distribute, harder decisions about staffing, and the risk of losing good people to other work.

None of that is a failure of effort or skill. It is weather. But how the profession uses the quiet is still a choice.

A slow season is not a season off

Every active season begins with a calm one. The storms that end a quiet stretch tend to arrive the same way they always do — quickly, and all at once. When they do, the people who spent the calm sharpening their files, their conversations, and their readiness will be the ones firms trust with the hardest claims. The calm is the only time that kind of preparation can happen without pressure.

You cannot build a habit during a surge. You can only use the ones you built before it.

For adjusters: build without spending much

Upskilling does not have to mean expensive courses. A focused hour or two a week, for six weeks, changes how you work when the volume comes back.

Audit your own files. Pull a few closed files and read them like a reviewer would. Is the reasoning written down, not just the decision? Do the photos, measurements, and estimate agree?
Rebuild one habit at a time. Same-day notes, consistent photo labeling, logging every contact. Small habits are what hold under pressure.
Practice the hard conversation. Write out how you would explain a partial denial in plain language, then say it out loud to a colleague.
Sharpen your tools. Update and practice your estimating platform. Review your licenses and continuing-education timelines.
Widen where you can work, if it makes sense for you. Daily claims, desk work, and other perils such as severe convective storms and flood do not follow the hurricane calendar.
Lead something. Mentor a newer adjuster, or start a small book study with peers.

For firms: keep the roster close and use the bench

Stay in contact. Quiet seasons are when good adjusters drift into other industries. Regular, honest contact keeps people connected to the work.
Use bench time for standards. Agree on what a complete file looks like, review closed files together, and write communication templates while there is time to do it well.
Develop the managers. The people who will lead the next surge need leadership skills before they need them.
Run a pre-mortem on the last active season. What broke? What did people improvise? Fix it now.
Choose development that fits the budget. A book study with an Instructor Companion costs about the price of the book per person. Internal file reviews cost only time.

If money is tight right now

For many adjusters, a slow season is a financial problem first and a professional one second. That is worth saying plainly. The best development in a lean year is the kind that costs little: reviewing your own work, practicing with peers, reading one strong book together, and keeping your licenses and tools current so you are ready the moment work returns. Investment can come later. Readiness can start now.

What to do this month

Pick three closed files and read them as a reviewer would.
Choose one documentation habit to rebuild for the next four weeks.
Check your licenses, CE timelines, and estimating platform.
Reach out to one colleague — to practice, to mentor, or to start a study together.

The full six-week plan, along with options for firms, is on the Calm Season page.

Questions

What should independent adjusters do during a slow hurricane season?

Use the time for low-cost upskilling: audit your own closed files, rebuild documentation habits, practice difficult conversations, keep licenses and your estimating platform current, consider work that does not depend on hurricanes such as daily claims or other perils, and mentor or study with peers.

How can IA firms keep adjusters engaged when there are no deployments?

Stay in regular contact, use bench time to agree on file standards and review closed files together, develop managers before the next surge, run a pre-mortem on the last active season, and choose low-cost development such as book studies.

Is training worth it when budgets are tight?

Development does not have to be expensive. File self-audits and peer practice cost only time, and a book study with an Instructor Companion costs about the price of the book per person. Readiness built in a quiet year pays off when storms return.