Where severe hail falls: hail reports by state and county, 2016 to 2026

Oregon

Oregon is near the bottom of the list. It had 110 reports of hail 1 inch or larger from 2016 to 2025, on 50 days, which ranks 40th of the 50 states and D.C. Of those, 7 were of hail 2 inches or more. Hail of this size is rare in Oregon, not unknown.

What this means for car owners

• Hail damage is usually a comprehensive claim. There is no at-fault driver, so the claim runs through your own policy, and only if you carry comprehensive coverage. Check that before the season, which in most states peaks in April, May or June.
• The repair method affects value. Paintless dent repair keeps the factory finish; replaced or repainted panels leave more for a buyer or dealer to find. Our guide to hail damage and diminished value explains the difference and why many policies do not pay for lost value.
• Keep the paperwork. The estimate, the final invoice showing the method used on each panel, and photos before and after repair are what any later question about value turns on.
• A badly damaged car can be totaled. If repairs would cost too much compared with the car’s value, the insurer may declare it a total loss. See total loss claims.

Method and limits

We downloaded NOAA’s Storm Events Database bulk “details” files for 2016 through 2026 (the 2026 file, created October 26, 2026, runs through July) and kept every “Hail” record with a maximum hail size of 1.00 inch or more in the 50 states and D.C. We counted records by state, county, month and year, counted the distinct dates with at least one record, and divided state totals by land area from the Census Bureau’s 2024 Gazetteer. As a check, we recounted the national total, every state, the top counties, the April-to-June share and the 2026 count from NOAA’s Storm Events search service, a separate route into the same database.

Limits: a hail report needs someone to see the hail and report it, so cities and places with many trained spotters log more reports than open country, and a storm over empty land may not appear at all. Hail size is often estimated by eye. The Weather Service says much of the information comes from outside sources and that “information from these sources may be unverified by the NWS. Accordingly, the NWS does not guarantee the accuracy or validity of the information.” Counts in recent months can still change as reports are added. A report does not tell you how wide the hail fell or how many vehicles it hit.

Sources

• NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, bulk details files, 2016 to July 2026, retrieved November 12, 2026: www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/swdi/stormevents/csvfiles/
• NOAA NCEI, Storm Events Database (search), retrieved November 12, 2026: www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/storm-events-database/
• National Weather Service Instruction 10-1605, Storm Data Preparation, July 26, 2021: www.weather.gov/media/directives/010_pdfs/pd01016005curr.pdf
• NOAA Storm Prediction Center, Frequently Asked Questions, retrieved November 12, 2026: www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/
• U.S. Census Bureau, 2024 Gazetteer Files, states, 2024: www.census.gov/geographies/reference-files/time-series/geo/gazetteer-files.html