We follow storms for a living, so we watch the season totals closely. Here is where 2026 landed.
The headline numbers
A national hail-report tracker recorded 6,853 hail reports across the United States in 2026. The five most active states were:
| State | Hail reports in 2026 |
|---|---|
| Texas | 734 |
| Kansas | 733 |
| Missouri | 618 |
| Illinois | 535 |
| Iowa | 493 |
The largest single stone logged in the year was 6 inches, in Illinois.
What the spread actually tells you
Three things stand out.
Texas and Kansas are effectively tied. Texas gets the reputation, but Kansas produced within one report of the same total in 2026. If you are in the central Plains, you are in hail country whether or not your state gets named in the coverage.
The Midwest is not a secondary market. Missouri, Illinois and Iowa together produced 1,646 reports — more than double Texas on its own. The April 28 Springfield, Missouri event alone damaged thousands of vehicles with stones up to 4.75 inches.
Report counts are not damage counts. A report is a single observation. One report over a dense suburb can mean thousands of damaged vehicles; twenty reports over farmland can mean almost none. Use the totals to understand frequency, not cost.
What it means for your vehicle
If you live in any of the top five states, two habits are worth building:
- Carry comprehensive coverage and know the deductible. Hail is a
comprehensive claim. Liability-only pays nothing.
- Have a covered spot picked out in advance. The warning lead time on a
hail core is usually minutes, not hours.
And if you are already hit: get the damage scoped under proper lighting before you accept any number. That is the single biggest determinant of whether the repair is done once or done twice.
Schedule an in-person estimate and we will tell you where the nearest crew is working.
Sources: 2026 Hail Map · NWS Springfield — April 28, 2026