Hail in Illinois — where it hits, county by county
Hail is a fact of life on Illinois ground — 878 National Weather Service hail reports in the last 5 years, led by Cook County, peaking around March. The table below ranks the counties; the interactive national map shows exactly where, year by year. Checking a specific address? The map’s search box pulls every dated report within 25 miles.
Open the interactive map on Illinois →Top hail counties in Illinois (2022–2026)
| County | Reports | Avg/yr | Peak month | % damaging (≥1.5″) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cook | 195 | 39.0 | May | 19% |
| Madison | 149 | 29.8 | Mar | 38% |
| ST. CLAIR | 101 | 20.2 | Mar | 23% |
| DuPage | 86 | 17.2 | Jul | 50% |
| Will | 85 | 17.0 | Mar | 26% |
| Sangamon | 68 | 13.6 | Apr | 29% |
| Henry | 57 | 11.4 | Feb | 11% |
| McLean | 46 | 9.2 | May | 33% |
| Williamson | 46 | 9.2 | Jun | 33% |
| Macon | 45 | 9.0 | Apr | 47% |
Key figures — Illinois hail at a glance
- Illinois logged 878 National Weather Service hail reports statewide over the last 5 years (2022–2026).
- Cook County leads Illinois with 195 hail reports over that span — about 39.0 per year.
- Reported hail in Illinois peaks in March.
- Roughly 259 of Illinois's reports involved stones 1.5″ or larger — the size that damages roofs, vehicles, and crops.
Citing these figures? Attribution: AGSIST National Hail Map, https://agsist.com/hail-map/illinois (NWS Local Storm Reports, 2022–2026). Data is available at no charge; a link back keeps it that way.
Illinois hail — the questions people ask
Where does it hail the most in Illinois?
By reported hail over the last 5 years, the most active counties in Illinois are Cook, Madison, ST. CLAIR. Reports track population and spotter coverage as well as storms, so rural corridors can be under-counted; the persistent leaders on this table are real hail geography.
When is hail season in Illinois?
Reported hail in Illinois peaks around March, with most activity in the spring-through-midsummer window. Any single year can break the pattern.
How much of Illinois's hail is damaging?
On this page, damaging means reported stones of 1.5″ or larger — the size that reliably dents roofs and vehicles and strips crops. The per-county damaging share is in the table; statewide, hail of any size totaled 878 reports over 5 years.
Insurance, roofing, or ag professional using this data in client-facing work? The same dataset is available as a licensable embeddable widget — details on the sponsor page or email sig@farmers1st.com.