StormProof → hail seasons → St. Louis → 2026
St. Louis hail season 2026
78 NWS-recorded hail reports ≥1″ within 35 miles, across 5 storm days, max 2.50". Every one of those reports is a dated, located, citable official record — the context behind this market's 2026 claim volume.
Biggest storm days (2026, final record)
| Date | ≥1″ reports | Max hail | Areas named in the record |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 27, 2026 | 52 | 2.50" | JEFFERSON, MONROE, FRANKLIN, ST. CLAIR |
| April 17, 2026 | 13 | 1.00" | ST. CHARLES, ST. LOUIS |
| May 3, 2026 | 8 | 2.00" | MADISON |
| May 4, 2026 | 4 | 2.00" | MADISON |
| March 15, 2026 | 1 | 1.00" | MADISON |
“Picture of hailstone received on X from near Kingshighway and Martin Luther King Drive.”
— NWS event narrative, April 27, 2026 (NCEI Storm Events)
When it fell
Mar 1 · Apr 65 · May 12
Preliminary 2026 reports (SPC, season in progress)
Same-day SPC storm reports through 2026-10-01, before NCEI compiles the final record: 83 reports ≥1″ on 8 days, up to 2.50". Preliminary counts shift as reports are quality-controlled; they are labeled preliminary in every report we generate.
| Date (preliminary) | ≥1″ reports | Max hail | Locations |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 27, 2026 | 39 | 2.50" | Dittmer, 3 SE Columbia, 1 SW Pacific, 2 E Gray Summit |
| April 17, 2026 | 13 | 1.00" | 3 NE Defiance, 3 WNW Chesterfield, 2 ENE Weldon Spring, 2 S Harvester |
| April 26, 2026 | 12 | 1.75" | 2 S Belleville, 2 ENE Maplewood, 1 E Clayton, 2 W Saint Louis |
| May 3, 2026 | 8 | 2.00" | 3 W Alton, Alton, 1 NE Alton, Bethalto |
| August 21, 2026 | 4 | 2.50" | Aviston, Highland, 3 SE Grantfork, Grantfork |
Wind context: the record also holds 32 thunderstorm-wind events ≥50 kt (≈58 mph, the NWS severe criterion) in this radius for 2026 — relevant where the dispute is wind vs hail causation.
Working a St. Louis claim from 2026?
These are aggregates. A claim file needs the per-address record: every recorded event within 1, 3 and 10 miles of the property, distances, official narratives, and citations an adjuster can check line by line. That's the report — generated in seconds, hosted on HailEvidence (the neutral evidence surface), formatted as an insurance-appeal attachment.
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Provenance
Final counts: NCEI Storm Events Database, file vintage c20260918, hail events with recorded magnitude ≥1.00″ and point coordinates within 35 miles of the St. Louis anchor. Preliminary counts: SPC daily storm reports through 2026-10-01. NWS records are point and path observations. The absence of a nearby report does NOT prove that no hail fell at this address — it means no observation was logged nearby. A report of nearby hail documents the event; it does not by itself prove damage to a specific structure. Spotted an error? Email the address on our terms page and we correct against the source.