Feb. 28--Wisconsin's tenacious winter is taking its toll on home and auto insurers, with damage claims piling up like snow.

Claims have increased more than 60% from last winter at some insurance companies in the state, with everything from water damage to slip-and-fall injuries adding to the totals.

The winter of 2007-'08 already has set a snowfall record for Madison and could crack the top 10 snowiest winters in Milwaukee.

But the season also has featured ice storms, rain and periods of rapid thawing and freezing, all of which have worsened losses for insurers.

At Sun Prairie-based General Casualty Insurance Cos., claims are up about 65% in January and February from 2007. Ice damming, in which freezing and thawing snow on roofs finds its way under shingles, into attics and onto ceilings and drywall, has been a frequent occurrence.

Minor auto accidents also are up.

"Lots of auto claims where drivers have gone into the ditch or slid into another car," said Anne Smith, spokeswoman for General Casualty. "Not too many serious ones, but many fender bender-type claims."

American Family Insurance Co., which provides homeowners coverage to about a fourth of all homes in Wisconsin, said property insurance claims were 61% higher in January and auto claims rose about 14% compared with January 2007.

"I know for February we are already ahead of the monthly total (for 2007)," said American Family spokesman Steve Witmer. "We had more claims in auto and property by last Friday than we had the entire month of February a year ago."

Scott Thomas, director of claims for West Bend Mutual Insurance Co. in West Bend, said slip-and-fall injury claims also have been showing up, especially for businesses.

"There's a lot of ice around, and it's kind of treacherous out there," Thomas said.

Overall, Thomas said, claims caused by winter weather are up more than 30% in January and February of this year compared with the first two months of 2007.

Bret Blizzard, spokesman for Acuity Insurance in Sheboygan, said more than half of its winter-related claims so far this year have come from southeastern Wisconsin. Acuity does business in 17 states.

"That kind of drives home that point that it's been a tough winter here," Blizzard said.

Jim Krogmeier, territorial distribution leader in the Brookfield office of Allstate Insurance Co., said auto claims in Wisconsin are up about 10% to 15% from the same time last year.

He said he expects more ice-dam damage claims by homeowners before the winter ends.

"I imagine we're going to see more as the weather gets that much warmer," he said. "As we get into March or a weekend like we just had is when you start hearing about it and seeing it."

A relentless winter such as the current one doesn't necessarily mean an increase in insurance rates the following year, insurers say. Years worth of historical data and the current insurance environment -- property-casualty insurers say the market is very competitive right now -- figure into rate adjustments.

"One winter doesn't do it," said Eric Englund, president of the Wisconsin Insurance Alliance.

Still, recent weather matters more than weather decades ago, said American Family's Witmer.

"It's a long-term historical average we look at, and the more-recent history is more heavily weighted," he said. "So if you happen to get a number of years in a row that are heavier than the historical norm, that tends to have a little bit more bearing on rates than those abnormal years 20 or 30 years in the past."

Ann Avery, spokeswoman for State Farm Insurance Co., said preventing ice dams is an important step homeowners can take to protect their property. The company suggests staying off the roof but using a roof rake to pull down snow and ice while standing on the ground.

"I know that's probably something everybody's tired of hearing about, but this is going to be coming around the corner real soon again," she said.