Data story · updated November 4, 2026
Is hail getting worse? 70 years of US hail reports by region
Hail reports rose twentyfold since the 1960s, but most of that is better reporting. Hail days and big-hail reports by region tell a more careful story.
Is hail getting worse?
- Reports a year, 1960s → last decade
- ×11
- 765 → 8,767
- Midwest: 2 in+ reports
- +40%
- 2011–2025 vs 1996–2010
- South: 2 in+ reports
- +47%
- 2011–2025 vs 1996–2010
Chart
What the data shows
US hail reports grew from about 765 a year in the 1960s to 8,767 a year in the last decade. That is not 11 times more hail. Most of the rise is reporting: the National Weather Service's 1990s modernisation (Doppler radar, trained spotter networks, and checking radar warnings against ground reports) multiplied the reports collected per storm.
A fairer test compares two recent 15-year windows, both after modern reporting began (1996–2010 and 2011–2025). Northeast: hail days -10%, reports of 2 in or larger +80%; Midwest: hail days -4%, reports of 2 in or larger +40%; South: hail days -13%, reports of 2 in or larger +47%; West: hail days -7%, reports of 2 in or larger +69%.
Hail days (any report in the region that day) change slowly; reports of large hail have risen faster in most regions. That pattern fits research suggesting fewer but larger hail events in a warming climate, but report data alone cannot separate that from changes in how and where people report.
The numbers
| Northeast | 1955–1959 | 11.6 | 16.2 | 13.4 | 3 |
| Northeast | 1960–1969 | 14.6 | 24.6 | 16.8 | 3.3 |
| Northeast | 1970–1979 | 16.1 | 36.8 | 24.9 | 2.6 |
| Northeast | 1980–1989 | 22.5 | 88.8 | 53.2 | 5.7 |
| Northeast | 1990–1999 | 39.1 | 203.9 | 81.6 | 4.8 |
| Northeast | 2000–2009 | 52.8 | 574.2 | 210.2 | 7.7 |
| Northeast | 2010–2019 | 47.9 | 559.4 | 367.5 | 16 |
| Northeast | 2020–2025 | 41.7 | 344.8 | 253 | 8.2 |
| Midwest | 1955–1959 | 75.2 | 216.6 | 179.2 | 66.8 |
| Midwest | 1960–1969 | 90.3 | 330.2 | 263.8 | 83.8 |
| Midwest | 1970–1979 | 100.3 | 517 | 401 | 73.8 |
| Midwest | 1980–1989 | 111.2 | 992.7 | 739.1 | 118.4 |
| Midwest | 1990–1999 | 136.1 | 2,671.1 | 1,465.8 | 180.2 |
| Midwest | 2000–2009 | 167.7 | 6,576.8 | 3,213.3 | 273.4 |
| Midwest | 2010–2019 | 162.2 | 5,130.5 | 3,670.9 | 337.2 |
| Midwest | 2020–2025 | 152.7 | 3,746.5 | 3,138.8 | 413.7 |
| South | 1955–1959 | 70 | 192 | 149.4 | 50.4 |
| South | 1960–1969 | 93.2 | 340.4 | 268.7 | 82.5 |
| South | 1970–1979 | 109.8 | 467 | 386.2 | 73.7 |
| South | 1980–1989 | 136.6 | 1,393.5 | 940.9 | 115.3 |
| South | 1990–1999 | 185.7 | 4,061 | 2,010.9 | 216.8 |
| South | 2000–2009 | 200.5 | 5,397.3 | 2,517.1 | 230.9 |
| South | 2010–2019 | 178.8 | 3,825.6 | 2,943.8 | 285.5 |
| South | 2020–2025 | 166 | 3,485.7 | 2,906 | 410.5 |
| West | 1955–1959 | 36.4 | 70.6 | 52.2 | 14.4 |
| West | 1960–1969 | 42.9 | 69.9 | 51.7 | 12 |
| West | 1970–1979 | 42.1 | 79.9 | 58 | 10.2 |
| West | 1980–1989 | 58.1 | 180.5 | 134.1 | 17.8 |
| West | 1990–1999 | 103.7 | 614.2 | 336.3 | 36.2 |
| West | 2000–2009 | 129.1 | 1,190.4 | 619.4 | 50.6 |
| West | 2010–2019 | 124.4 | 1,208.7 | 950.5 | 92.4 |
| West | 2020–2025 | 110.2 | 926 | 777.8 | 103.7 |
Use this story
Free to republish with a link to this page. Every city, county and state page has the same numbers for a local angle.
Method and caveats
- In 2010 the NWS raised its severe-hail threshold from 0.75 in to 1 in, so fewer small-hail reports were collected after that; we show 1 in+ and 2 in+ counts separately for that reason.
- Population growth puts more people under each storm, which raises report counts without any change in storms.
- NOAA sizes are often estimates, rounded to familiar objects (quarter, golf ball); larger stones are more likely to be measured today than decades ago.
- Source: every hail report in the NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database from 1955 to July 31, 2026, plus preliminary NWS Local Storm Reports via the Iowa Environmental Mesonet to November 3, 2026. Full method.
More data stories
- The 25 US cities hit by hail most often since 2000Ranked by separate days with a hail report in or near each city, 2000 to today, from NOAA and National Weather Service records.
- Largest hailstones ever recorded in every stateThe biggest hail on record in each state since 1955, and the biggest since 1996, when NOAA size reports became more reliable.
- Hail season calendar: when each state gets hitWhich months bring hail in each state, the peak month and the shortest stretch of months holding three quarters of reports, 1996 to last year.
- 2026 hail year in reviewHow this year's hail compares with the previous ten years: reports, hail days, big hail, the worst states and the biggest days.