The weather index-based insurances may help farmers to cope with climate risks overcoming the most common issues of traditional insurances. However, the weather index-based insurances present the limit of the basis risk: a significant yield loss may occur although the weather index does not trigger the indemnification, or a compensation may be granted even if there has not been a yield loss. Our investi-gation, conducted on Apulia region (Southern Italy), aimed at deepening the knowl-edge on the linkages between durum wheat yields and weather events, i.e., the work-ing principles of weather index-based insurances, occurring in susceptible phenologi-cal phases. We found several connections among weather and yields and highlight the need to collect more refined data to catch further relationships. We conclude opening a reflection on how the stakeholders may make use of publicly available data to design effective weather crop insurances.