NOAA Storm Events · December 2015

Hail in December 2015: 91 NOAA reports across 14 states

NOAA logged 91 hail reports in December 2015, in 72 counties across 14 states. Texas had the most (22). The largest stone was 2.75 inches (a baseball), near Ridge in Craighead County, Arkansas, on December 23, 2015. The worst day was December 23, 2015, with 55 reports in 10 states.

Where
72 counties in 14 states; Texas had 24% of the reports
Largest stone
2.75 inches, a baseball, in Craighead County, AR (near Ridge), on December 23, 2015
Worst day
December 23, 2015: 55 reports in 10 states, 60% of the month
Days with hail
9 of 31 days had at least one report
Hail reports in December 2015, lower 48 states
  • under 1 in
  • 1 to 1.74 in
  • 1.75 to 2.74 in
  • 2.75 in and up
91 of the 91 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

December 23, 2015 was the worst day with 55 reports. A day with hail averaged 10.

Hail reports per day in December 2015 December 1: 0 reports 1 December 2: 0 reports December 3: 0 reports December 4: 0 reports December 5: 0 reports 5 December 6: 0 reports December 7: 0 reports December 8: 0 reports December 9: 0 reports December 10: 2 reports 10 December 11: 0 reports December 12: 3 reports December 13: 0 reports December 14: 0 reports December 15: 0 reports 15 December 16: 0 reports December 17: 0 reports December 18: 0 reports December 19: 0 reports December 20: 0 reports 20 December 21: 1 reports December 22: 0 reports December 23: 55 reports 55 December 24: 3 reports December 25: 2 reports 25 December 26: 12 reports December 27: 12 reports December 28: 0 reports December 29: 0 reports December 30: 1 reports 30 December 31: 0 reports
Hail reports per day, December 2015
December 10
December 20
December 30
December 40
December 50
December 60
December 70
December 80
December 90
December 102
December 110
December 123
December 130
December 140
December 150
December 160
December 170
December 180
December 190
December 200
December 211
December 220
December 2355
December 243
December 252
December 2612
December 2712
December 280
December 290
December 301
December 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, December 2015 22 TX 18 KY 13 AR 10 MO 6 IN 4 LA 4 OK 4 TN 3 AL 3 IL
Top 10 states by hail reports, December 2015
TX22
KY18
AR13
MO10
IN6
LA4
OK4
TN4
AL3
IL3
Top 10 states
#StateReportsShareLargest
1Texas2224.2%1.75 in
2Kentucky1819.8%1.75 in
3Arkansas1314.3%2.75 in
4Missouri1011.0%1.75 in
5Indiana66.6%1 in
6Louisiana44.4%1.25 in
7Oklahoma44.4%1 in
8Tennessee44.4%1.5 in
9Alabama33.3%2 in
10Illinois33.3%1.5 in
Top 10 counties
#CountyReportsLargest
1Tarrant County, TX61.75 in
2Adams County, IL21.5 in
3Clark County, IN21 in
4Craighead County, AR22.75 in
5Floyd County, IN21 in
6Graves County, KY21.75 in
7Gray County, TX21 in
8Hancock County, KY21 in
9Lonoke County, AR21.5 in
10Marion County, MO21 in

County names link to the full hail history where we have published that county. The CSV below lists all 72 counties and all 14 states.

How December 2015 compares

Compared withReportsDecember 2015 was
November 201593-2 (-2%)
December 201463+28 (+44%)
the average December in the other 11 years47+44 (+94%)

December 2015 was the 3rd busiest December of the 12 in the record and the 113th busiest of all 150 months.

NOAA hail reports in December, by year 63 2014 91 2015 24 2016 21 2017 61 2018 39 2019 6 2020 123 2021 20 2022 101 2023 58 2024 2 2025
NOAA hail reports in December, by year
201463
201591
201624
201721
201861
201939
20206
2021123
202220
2023101
202458
20252

Every December 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.