NOAA Storm Events files dated September 18, 2026; newest event June 2, 2026. Events are added weeks after they happen, so the current year is always incomplete.
Looking for a specific date? Every recent day with hail of 1 inch or larger has its own page of preliminary reports on the storm days index.
What The Record Shows
Key insight, October 9, 2026: the first thing to know about a Houston roof is that wind, not hail, is the more frequent hazard in the federal record. Thunderstorm wind was logged on 188 distinct days across the eight counties and hail on 121. In a typical full year from 2010 to 2025, wind turned up on about 11.5 days and hail on about 7.3. The busiest year for both was close: 2024 had 16 hail days, and 2023 had 20 wind days. Hail still matters. The largest stone on record measured 4.5 inches at Hitchcock, Galveston County, on April 2, 2013, and the heaviest hail date was April 19, 2015, with 19 reports from 7 counties.
- 387 hail reports on 121 distinct days
- 633 thunderstorm wind reports on 188 distinct days
- 131 tornado reports on 58 distinct days
- 31 tropical storm rows on 10 distinct days
Hail, Wind And Tornado Days By Year
A report is one observation sent to the National Weather Service; one storm produces many. Days count distinct calendar dates with a report anywhere in the eight counties, which is the number to read. Tropical storm rows are coded by NWS forecast zone and collapsed to the county here.
| Year | Hail days | Wind days | Tornado days | Tropical storm days | Largest hail (inches) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1.75 |
| 2011 | 3 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| 2012 | 11 | 15 | 3 | 0 | 2.75 |
| 2013 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 4.5 |
| 2014 | 10 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 1.5 |
| 2015 | 7 | 14 | 4 | 1 | 2.75 |
| 2016 | 9 | 11 | 6 | 0 | 2.5 |
| 2017 | 7 | 11 | 11 | 3 | 1.75 |
| 2018 | 3 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 2019 | 8 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 2.5 |
| 2020 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 1.75 |
| 2021 | 5 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 1.5 |
| 2022 | 2 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| 2023 | 12 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 2024 | 16 | 15 | 5 | 1 | 2.75 |
| 2025 | 5 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1.75 |
| 2026 (incomplete) | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1.5 |
Which Counties Get The Most Hail Days?
Harris County averaged the most hail days a year (4.3), ahead of Montgomery (1.7) and Brazoria (1.3); Chambers trails. A day counts once per county, so one storm shows up in every county it crossed. Averages cover the full years 2010 to 2025; totals run to June 2, 2026. Reports follow spotters and population, so a quiet county is not proof of quiet skies.
| County | Average hail days a year | Hail days in total | Reports | Largest stone (inches) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harris | 4.3 | 70 | 195 | 2.75 |
| Montgomery | 1.7 | 28 | 44 | 3 |
| Brazoria | 1.3 | 22 | 44 | 2.75 |
| Fort Bend | 1.2 | 21 | 44 | 2.75 |
| Galveston | 1.1 | 17 | 27 | 4.5 |
| Liberty | 1.1 | 18 | 22 | 4 |
| Waller | 0.4 | 6 | 8 | 2 |
| Chambers | 0.2 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
Thunderstorm Wind By County
Harris County leads on wind days with 105, then Montgomery (55) and Fort Bend (37). Wind speed is the gust NOAA records in knots; the miles per hour column is that figure converted. Not every report carries a speed, so the largest gust is the largest one recorded, not the largest that blew.
| County | Wind days | Reports | Largest gust (knots) | Largest gust (mph) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harris | 105 | 249 | 90 | 104 |
| Montgomery | 55 | 110 | 68 | 78 |
| Fort Bend | 37 | 60 | 67 | 77 |
| Brazoria | 37 | 81 | 70 | 81 |
| Galveston | 34 | 59 | 72 | 83 |
| Liberty | 30 | 39 | 61 | 70 |
| Waller | 16 | 24 | 70 | 81 |
| Chambers | 7 | 11 | 68 | 78 |
Harris County By Month
Hail peaks in spring and wind carries on through summer into October. Reports by calendar month for Harris County, 2010 to 2026.
| Month | Hail reports | Thunderstorm wind reports |
|---|---|---|
| January | 8 | 17 |
| February | 2 | 7 |
| March | 28 | 17 |
| April | 54 | 33 |
| May | 55 | 65 |
| June | 34 | 45 |
| July | 3 | 7 |
| August | 5 | 20 |
| September | 0 | 6 |
| October | 1 | 27 |
| November | 0 | 0 |
| December | 5 | 5 |
The Heaviest Hail Days Across The Metro
Ranked by the number of hail reports on one date, anywhere in the eight counties.
| Date | Reports | Largest stone (inches) | Counties reporting |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 19, 2015 | 19 | 2.75 | Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery, Waller |
| May 9, 2019 | 16 | 2.5 | Fort Bend, Harris, Waller |
| April 24, 2020 | 14 | 1.75 | Harris, Montgomery, Waller |
| June 23, 2023 | 13 | 2 | Harris |
| March 21, 2024 | 11 | 1.75 | Harris, Liberty |
| March 15, 2024 | 11 | 1.75 | Brazoria, Fort Bend, Harris |
| April 30, 2026 | 10 | 1.5 | Brazoria, Fort Bend, Harris |
| April 4, 2012 | 9 | 2.75 | Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston |
The Heaviest Wind Days Across The Metro
Ranked by the number of thunderstorm wind reports on one date, anywhere in the eight counties.
| Date | Reports | Largest gust (knots) | Largest gust (mph) | Counties reporting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 16, 2024 | 23 | 90 | 104 | Chambers, Harris, Waller |
| April 10, 2024 | 17 | 72 | 83 | Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Montgomery |
| April 17, 2015 | 17 | 71 | 82 | Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris |
| February 14, 2026 | 15 | 61 | 70 | Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Montgomery |
| January 10, 2020 | 14 | 56 | 64 | Fort Bend, Harris, Montgomery, Waller |
| June 21, 2023 | 13 | 84 | 97 | Brazoria, Harris, Montgomery |
| March 15, 2024 | 13 | 67 | 77 | Brazoria, Fort Bend, Harris |
| May 27, 2020 | 12 | 61 | 70 | Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Montgomery, Waller |
The 16 May 2024 Wind Event
The National Weather Service Houston/Galveston office calls the derecho of 16 May 2024 the most impactful event of that month, with a swath of winds over 100 mph down through the Houston metro, widespread damage and a couple of tornadoes (NWS May 2024 climate summary). The NOAA file for that date holds 23 thunderstorm wind reports in 3 of our counties (Chambers, Harris, Waller), the largest a gust of 90 knots (104 mph), and 3 tornado reports. It is the heaviest wind date in the record by report count.
Tornadoes
The eight counties logged 131 tornado reports on 58 distinct days: 85 at EF0, 34 at EF1, 9 at EF2 and 3 at EF3. The year with the most tornado days was 2017. 19 of the reports fall between August 25, 2017 and August 27, 2017, the days NOAA logs Harvey's tropical rows. A tornado path is narrow, so a tornado report says little about any one roof; the wind and hail tables are the broader exposure measure.
Tropical Storms And Hurricanes
NOAA codes tropical systems by forecast zone, and in these counties it logs them as Tropical Storm rather than Hurricane. The file holds 31 tropical rows on 10 distinct days across 5 years. Harvey appears on August 25, 2017 and August 26, 2017. Hurricane Beryl, which does not appear as a Harris County row in the 2024 file, is documented by the National Hurricane Center instead: it made landfall near Matagorda, Texas, on 8 July 2024 at 80 knots, passed over the western side of the Houston metropolitan area, weakened to a tropical storm near Houston, and the Center cites media reports of almost 3 million people losing power, 2.7 million of them in southeastern Texas (NHC tropical cyclone report). The Center lists wind and storm surge damage in Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris and Matagorda counties.
What The Numbers Do Not Say
A storm report is an observation, not a damage claim. The file holds no loss amounts, no roof ages and no insurance outcomes, so it cannot tell you whether a given storm damaged a given roof. It says nothing about the quality of any roofer. It counts spotter reports, which follow population, so Harris County's 195 hail reports and 249 wind reports reflect more eyes as well as more weather. What it does show is exposure. In 8 of 16 full years at least one hail stone of 2 inches or more was reported somewhere in the metro, and in 2025 the metro had 5 hail days and 11 wind days.
What This Means For Your Roof
Inspect after the storm date your address sat under, not after a knock on the door. The hail and storm damage ranking lists the companies on our roster that publish storm restoration as a service. Before you file a claim, run the arithmetic: the hail claim calculator weighs a deductible against a repair estimate, and Texas Insurance Code section 707.002 says an insured under a property policy shall pay any deductible. A re-roof in the City of Houston needs a permit, with plan review and an inspection, per the Houston Permitting Center. On the coast it can also need a windstorm inspection; the check-a-roofer guide sets out both.
How To Read This Data
Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, the yearly details files, filtered to Texas and the eight counties above. Hail, Thunderstorm Wind and Tornado rows are county rows. Tropical Storm, Hurricane, High Wind and Strong Wind rows are forecast-zone rows (for example Inland Harris and Coastal Galveston), collapsed to the county by removing the zone prefix; zones that do not reduce to one of the eight counties are dropped. Hail size is the diameter in inches; wind is the gust in knots. Download every report as CSV, open, no email gate.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Does Houston get more hail or more wind?
- More wind. NOAA logged thunderstorm wind on 188 distinct days in the eight counties since 2010 against 121 days with hail, a ratio of 1.55 to 1. In 14 of the 16 full years from 2010 to 2025, wind days outnumbered hail days.
- How often does it hail in Houston?
- Somewhere in the eight counties on an average of 7.3 distinct days a year from 2010 to 2025, from 2 days in 2022 to 16 in 2024. Harris County alone had hail reports on 70 days in the whole record.
- When is hail season in Houston?
- Spring. March, April and May hold 70% of the 195 Harris County hail reports, and May is the busiest month with 55 reports.
- When does Houston get damaging thunderstorm wind?
- Across the year, with a summer weight. Harris County's 249 wind reports peak in May (65 reports), and June through August hold 29% of them.
- How big was the largest hail in the Houston area?
- 4.5 inches, reported at Hitchcock in Galveston County on April 2, 2013. 34 of the 387 hail reports (9%) were 2 inches or larger.
- How many tornadoes has the Houston area had?
- NOAA lists 131 tornado reports in the eight counties since 2010 on 58 distinct days: 85 rated EF0, 34 EF1, 9 EF2 and 3 EF3. 19 of the reports fall on August 25, 2017 to August 27, 2017, the Hurricane Harvey period.
- Is the current year complete?
- No. The newest event in the data is June 2, 2026 and the National Weather Service adds events weeks after they happen, so 2026 is always short.
- Does a hail or wind report mean my roof was damaged?
- No. A report is an observation at a place and time. The file holds no roof ages, no materials and no insurance outcomes, so it shows exposure, not damage. An inspection of the roof itself answers that.
- Best hail damage roof repair companies in Houston
- Our hail and storm damage ranking lists every company on the roster that publishes storm restoration as a service, in the same published order as the main list.
Sources
- NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database. Bulk CSV files StormEvents_details, years 2010 to 2026, newest file dated September 18, 2026. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/. Bulk files: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/swdi/stormevents/csvfiles/.
- National Weather Service Houston/Galveston. May 2024 Regional Climate Summary, the derecho of 16 May 2024. https://www.weather.gov/media/hgx/climate/summary/May_2024_Regional_Climate_Summary.pdf.
- National Hurricane Center. Tropical Cyclone Report, Hurricane Beryl (AL022024). https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL022024_Beryl.pdf.
- Houston Permitting Center. Residential re-roof permit, HPWCODE1140. https://www.houstonpermittingcenter.org/hpwcode1140.
- Texas Insurance Code, section 707.002. Payment of deductible required. Official text: https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/IN/htm/IN.707.htm; section text read at Texas Public Law.
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