NOAA Storm Events · October 2015

Hail in October 2015: 157 NOAA reports across 11 states

NOAA logged 157 hail reports in October 2015, in 55 counties across 11 states. New Mexico had the most (90). The largest stone was 2.5 inches (a tennis ball), near Progress in Bailey County, Texas, on October 20, 2015. The worst day was October 20, 2015, with 46 reports in 3 states.

Where
55 counties in 11 states; New Mexico had 57% of the reports
Largest stone
2.5 inches, a tennis ball, in Bailey County, TX (near Progress), on October 20, 2015
Worst day
October 20, 2015: 46 reports in 3 states, 29% of the month
Days with hail
14 of 31 days had at least one report
Hail reports in October 2015, lower 48 states
  • under 1 in
  • 1 to 1.74 in
  • 1.75 to 2.74 in
  • 2.75 in and up
157 of the 157 reports have coordinates in the lower 48 and are drawn. One dot is a half-degree square (roughly 35 miles); a bigger dot means more reports, and the color is the largest stone in that square.

Day by day

October 20, 2015 was the worst day with 46 reports. A day with hail averaged 11.

Hail reports per day in October 2015 October 1: 2 reports 1 October 2: 0 reports October 3: 12 reports October 4: 1 reports October 5: 3 reports 5 October 6: 10 reports October 7: 10 reports October 8: 0 reports October 9: 1 reports October 10: 0 reports 10 October 11: 0 reports October 12: 0 reports October 13: 0 reports October 14: 0 reports October 15: 6 reports 15 October 16: 0 reports October 17: 0 reports October 18: 10 reports October 19: 11 reports October 20: 46 reports 46 20 October 21: 43 reports October 22: 0 reports October 23: 1 reports October 24: 0 reports October 25: 0 reports 25 October 26: 0 reports October 27: 0 reports October 28: 0 reports October 29: 0 reports October 30: 1 reports 30 October 31: 0 reports
Hail reports per day, October 2015
October 12
October 20
October 312
October 41
October 53
October 610
October 710
October 80
October 91
October 100
October 110
October 120
October 130
October 140
October 156
October 160
October 170
October 1810
October 1911
October 2046
October 2143
October 220
October 231
October 240
October 250
October 260
October 270
October 280
October 290
October 301
October 310

Where it hit hardest

Ranked by NOAA hail reports. A report is one spotter or sensor entry for one county and storm, so counts follow where people live as well as where hail fell.

Top 10 states by hail reports, October 2015 90 NM 27 TX 22 AZ 4 NV 3 CA 3 CO 3 MI 2 ND 1 MS 1 UT
Top 10 states by hail reports, October 2015
NM90
TX27
AZ22
NV4
CA3
CO3
MI3
ND2
MS1
UT1
Top 10 states
#StateReportsShareLargest
1New Mexico9057.3%2.5 in
2Texas2717.2%2.5 in
3Arizona2214.0%1.75 in
4Nevada42.5%1.25 in
5California31.9%1.75 in
6Colorado31.9%1.75 in
7Michigan31.9%1 in
8North Dakota21.3%1 in
9Mississippi10.6%1 in
10Utah10.6%1 in
Top 10 counties
#CountyReportsLargest
1Dona Ana County, NM202 in
2El Paso County, TX161.75 in
3Eddy County, NM111.75 in
4Roosevelt County, NM91.75 in
5Maricopa County, AZ81.5 in
6Catron County, NM71.75 in
7Chaves County, NM51.25 in
8Grant County, NM51.5 in
9Curry County, NM41.75 in
10De Baca County, NM42.5 in

County names link to the full hail history where we have published that county. The CSV below lists all 55 counties and all 11 states.

How October 2015 compares

Compared withReportsOctober 2015 was
September 2015480-323 (-67%)
October 2014477-320 (-67%)
the average October in the other 11 years171-14 (-8%)

October 2015 was the 6th busiest October of the 12 in the record and the 97th busiest of all 150 months.

NOAA hail reports in October, by year 477 2014 157 2015 208 2016 178 2017 107 2018 153 2019 68 2020 117 2021 169 2022 213 2023 93 2024 99 2025
NOAA hail reports in October, by year
2014477
2015157
2016208
2017178
2018107
2019153
202068
2021117
2022169
2023213
202493
202599

Every October in the record, 2014 to 2025. Months after June 2026 are not in NOAA's file yet.

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Download the data

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, hail rows at county level, data through June 2026. Reports are preliminary and unverified: they show that hail was reported in a county, not that a given roof was damaged. Method: how we count. More: State of Hail by year · county hail history · press.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, public domain. Counts and tables on this page are free to reuse with credit to PickARoofer under CC BY 4.0.