Hail in Iowa — where it hits, county by county
Hail is a fact of life on Iowa ground — 602 National Weather Service hail reports in the last 5 years, led by LINN County, peaking around April. 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 Iowa →Top hail counties in Iowa (2022–2026)
| County | Reports | Avg/yr | Peak month | % damaging (≥1.5″) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LINN | 126 | 25.2 | Apr | 8% |
| SCOTT | 120 | 24.0 | Apr | 21% |
| Polk | 87 | 17.4 | Mar | 14% |
| Story | 85 | 17.0 | Apr | 19% |
| Johnson | 63 | 12.6 | Apr | 14% |
| Pottawattamie | 41 | 8.2 | Apr | 44% |
| Dubuque | 41 | 8.2 | Mar | 10% |
| Marion | 39 | 7.8 | Jun | 36% |
Iowa hail — the questions people ask
Where does it hail the most in Iowa?
By reported hail over the last 5 years, the most active counties in Iowa are LINN, SCOTT, Polk. 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 Iowa?
Reported hail in Iowa peaks around April, with most activity in the spring-through-midsummer window. Any single year can break the pattern.
How much of Iowa'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 602 reports over 5 years.