Hail in Montana — where it hits, county by county
Hail is a fact of life on Montana ground — 461 National Weather Service hail reports in the last 5 years, led by Yellowstone County, peaking around June. 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 Montana →Top hail counties in Montana (2022–2026)
| County | Reports | Avg/yr | Peak month | % damaging (≥1.5″) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yellowstone | 136 | 27.2 | Jun | 20% |
| CASCADE | 83 | 16.6 | Jul | 25% |
| Fergus | 35 | 7.0 | Jun | 31% |
| Lewis and Clark | 33 | 6.6 | Aug | 3% |
| Powder River | 33 | 6.6 | Jun | 33% |
| Big Horn | 31 | 6.2 | Jun | 32% |
| Judith Basin | 29 | 5.8 | Jun | 34% |
| Carter | 29 | 5.8 | Jun | 41% |
| Gallatin | 27 | 5.4 | Jul | 19% |
| Custer | 25 | 5.0 | Jun | 16% |
Key figures — Montana hail at a glance
- Montana logged 461 National Weather Service hail reports statewide over the last 5 years (2022–2026).
- Yellowstone County leads Montana with 136 hail reports over that span — about 27.2 per year.
- Reported hail in Montana peaks in June.
- Roughly 112 of Montana'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/montana (NWS Local Storm Reports, 2022–2026). Data is available at no charge; a link back keeps it that way.
Montana hail — the questions people ask
Where does it hail the most in Montana?
By reported hail over the last 5 years, the most active counties in Montana are Yellowstone, CASCADE, Fergus. 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 Montana?
Reported hail in Montana peaks around June, with most activity in the spring-through-midsummer window. Any single year can break the pattern.
How much of Montana'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 461 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.