Last week's cold snap in the Northwest will be among Washington State's top six severe cold-weather events of the past 25 years, according to Seattle-based PEMCO Insurance.

The insurer's storm index predicted that it will pay around $4.3 million in claims. PEMCO has tracked data since 1984 for claims related to snow, cold, and windstorms, plus events like earthquakes, wildfires, and heavy rain. It ranks these events based on the number of claims and gross paid loss amount, which is recalculated into inflation-adjusted dollars.

PEMCO said that "the frigid temperatures that occurred from Dec. 7-13, 2009, prompted a rash of claims that should rank this event behind only five previous cold-weather events: snowstorms of Dec. 26-30, 1996 ($15.2 million); Dec. 18, 1990 ($7.5 million); Dec. 17 - Jan. 10, 2009 ($7.1 million); Feb. 1-10, 1985 ($6.7 million); and Feb. 1, 1989 ($4.7 million)."