When is hail season in Kansas City?

Kansas City hail season runs March through June, and May logs the most reports. In NOAA's Storm Prediction Center data from 2010 to 2025, May is the top month in 12 of 20 metro cities.

Every one of the 20 cities logged its most reports in March, April, May or June. The days when hail reached most of the metro at once leaned earlier, toward March and April. September brings a second, smaller run.

The 20 cities run from Liberty and Parkville in the north to Belton and Raymore in the south, on both sides of the state line. If your car sleeps outside anywhere in that spread, those are the months it is most exposed.

Here is how the counting works. A report counts for a city when NOAA logged it within 10 miles of that city's Census point. Only hail 1 inch or larger is counted, which is NOAA's severe threshold. The source is NOAA's Storm Prediction Center hail database, retrieved October 7, 2026.

A report is one sighting, not one storm. One storm can produce many reports, and a storm nobody sees produces none. One report can also count for more than one city when their 10 mile circles overlap.

So the numbers below show when hail was seen and logged. They are a strong guide to timing, not a forecast. The full record by city lives on the Kansas City hail history page.

May leads most of the metro

May is the top month in Kansas City, Missouri, and in Kansas City, Kansas. It also leads in Overland Park, Olathe, Lenexa, Shawnee, Merriam, Leawood, Prairie Village, Gladstone, Liberty and Parkville.

In some of those cities May is not close. Shawnee logged 67 May reports, more than its March and April combined. Lenexa and Kansas City, Kansas, show the same pattern.

March through June carries the bulk of it everywhere. Parkville logged 128 of its 148 reports in those four months. Grain Valley, the most spread out across the year, still logged 46 of its 77.

That is the headline. The east and south of the metro tell a slightly different story.

The east and south run earlier

The Missouri side east and south of downtown breaks the May pattern. Blue Springs, Grain Valley, Independence and Lee's Summit all peaked in March. Raytown, Grandview and Raymore peaked in April. Belton is the outlier, with 18 of its 45 reports in June.

Every February report in the data also landed near one of those Missouri cities. Blue Springs and Lee's Summit logged 4 each. None of the Kansas side cities logged a February report.

Several of these cities logged fewer reports overall, too. Belton logged 45, while Shawnee logged 180. Fewer reports can reflect fewer people watching and reporting, not only less hail.

The widest days come in spring

The data also ranks the 25 days when 1 inch or larger hail was reported near the most of the 20 cities. Every one of those days reached at least 10 cities.

Twelve of the 25 fell in March or April. April alone had 7. May had 4.

Four days reached 19 of the 20 cities. They were April 3, 2011, April 26, 2016, May 26, 2016, and March 6, 2017. On each of those days, only one city of the 20 had no report of 1 inch hail nearby.

So May brings the most reports. March and April bring more of the days that spread across the whole metro.

If you have cars parked outside in more than one city, those wide days are the ones that matter. One of them can reach lots and driveways across the metro at once.

September is the second season

July and August go quieter across most of the metro. Then September picks back up. In 15 of the 20 cities, September logged more reports than either July or August.

Five separate September days brought golf ball size or larger hail near at least 7 of the 20 cities. The most recent was September 16, 2025. The others fell in 2010, 2019, 2021 and 2023.

Not everywhere, though. Belton and Raymore logged no September reports at all. Elsewhere, a car that sits outside deserves the same care in September as in May.

Golf ball size days

Golf ball size hail, 1.75 inches on NOAA's scale, is a useful line to watch. Across the 20 cities, 48 separate days brought a report that size or larger from 2010 to 2025.

May had 10 of those days, April had 9 and June had 7. July had 6, so the larger stones do not stop when spring ends. Every year in the window had at least one such day except 2022.

Overland Park logged 22 golf ball size days, the most of the 20 cities. Belton, Grandview, Liberty and Raymore logged 9 each, the fewest.

One day can skew a month

November stands out in Liberty and Gladstone, north of the river. Liberty logged 12 November reports and Gladstone logged 11. Kansas City, Missouri, logged 6. All of them came on one day, November 2, 2016.

That is the gap between reports and storms in plain view. One active day can fill a month that is usually empty. October has one wide day on record too, October 1, 2014, which reached 11 cities.

What the season means for you

Check your policy before March. Hail coverage comes from comprehensive, and does insurance cover hail damage shows where to find it.

From March through June, park under a roof on storm nights when you can. Keep the habit into September.

If you are buying a car in spring, ask where it was parked through the last hail season. If it sat outside through April and May, walk slowly around it in good light.

After any hail day, photograph the car before anything else. The after hail checklist walks you through it.

Hailsmith works the metro on both sides of the state line. The cities are listed on service areas.

Your next step

If this season already left dents on your car, call for a free assessment. Hailsmith comes to the car, counts every dent by panel and tells you which ones will not come out. Then you decide on a claim with the real damage in front of you.