(FORTUNE Magazine) – What do rock stars and raisin growers have that your average traveler doesn't? Weather insurance. The latest company to offer such protection is Raincheque, a Tarrytown, New York, insurance broker that says it will protect vacations in the U.S., Bermuda, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean against inclement weather. Say you want to soak up some sun in Bermuda this January. The premium for insuring the trip would be 5% of the vacation expenses you want covered. (Premiums are based on rainfall; in such places as Puerto Rico the average is low, but rain falls frequently.) Should it rain 0.01 of an inch or more between 9 A.M. and 5 P.M. on more than half your vacation days, the company will reimburse the costs of the entire trip. While underwriters have been insuring everything from bar mitzvahs to county fairs against bad weather for years, individual coverage has been tougher to come by. It has never been a very profitable business for insurers, and they often scrapped individual vacation insurance schemes as quickly as they started them. Raincheque founders David Manes, 38, and Frank Parkhurst, 37, hope to change all that. Last March the Chubb Group of Insurance Cos. started underwriting Raincheque's policies, which will be sold mainly through travel agents. Good Weather International, a Long Island, New York, firm that specializes in tracking weather trends, sets the premiums for Chubb. Some would argue that the rates are high, but that's true for most new insurance businesses. If other companies start rain coverage, premiums will probably fall. Says Harold Mollin, Good Weather's marketing director: ''We are really no different from other insurance companies. Some are betting when you are going to die. All we are doing is betting on the weather.''

CHART: LOCATION AVERAGE INSURANCE JANUARY RATE RAINFALL San Juan, Puerto Rico 3.01 in .8% Los Angeles, California 3.06 in .7% Bermuda 5.28 in .5% Freeport, Bahamas 2.02 in .4% Hilton Head, South Carolina 3.36 in .4% Acapulco, Mexico 3.20 in .3% Orlando, Florida 2.10 in .3%

CREDIT:SOURCE: GOOD WEATHER INTERNATIONAL CORP. ILLUSTRATION BY ANDERS WENNGREN CAPTION:NO CAPTION DESCRIPTION: Average January rainfall and weather insurance rate for several vacation cities.