Kansas City Hail History

Hail here is not rare

You heard it on the roof last night, or you found it on the hood this morning. Either way, you are not the first in Kansas City.

This page lays out the public record. It covers 20 cities across the metro, 8 in Kansas and 12 in Missouri, from 2010 to 2025. Every number comes from NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.

Each city in that record logged hail of 1 inch or larger on at least 22 separate days. Every one also logged golf ball size hail on at least 9 days. That is true on both sides of the state line.

The tables and charts on this page come from the same file.

How this record was built

The reports come from SPC's severe weather database, its historical hail file and its 2025 file. The window runs from January 1, 2010, through December 28, 2025. The data was pulled on October 7, 2026.

Each city is placed at its internal point from the US Census Bureau's 2024 Gazetteer. A report counts for a city when it starts within 10 miles of that point. Dates are SPC's, in Central Standard Time.

Sizes follow SPC. One inch is the severe threshold. Golf ball size is 1.75 inches, and baseball size is 2.75 inches.

Three caveats matter. Reports come from spotters and the public, so they are not storms. One storm can drop many reports, and a storm with no observer leaves none. The 2025 file is SPC's file for the current year, and it can still be revised. One report can count for several cities when their circles overlap, so city totals do not add up to a metro total.

The metro at a glance

Shawnee logged the most reports of 1 inch or larger, with 180. Lenexa followed with 176, then Kansas City, Kansas, with 173. Gladstone, at 164, led the Missouri side. Belton logged the fewest, with 45.

Count days instead of reports and the order changes. Parkville logged hail on 51 separate days, the most in the record. Shawnee had 50 and Gladstone 49. Belton had the fewest at 22.

Golf ball size hail tells you about dents. Overland Park logged it on 22 days, more than any other city. Lenexa had 20. Olathe and Shawnee each had 19.

Bigger stones are rarer, but they reach most of the metro. Of the 20 cities, 15 logged at least one report of baseball size or larger. Lee's Summit had the most, with 7.

The largest hail in the whole record was 5.5 inches, on September 18, 2010. The most recent report of 1 inch or larger came on September 16, 2025, near 15 of the 20 cities.

The widest hail days

Some days put hail near most of the metro at once. These six stand out. Four reached 19 of the 20 cities. The other two are the largest hail in the record and the most recent wide day.

April 3, 2011

Hail was reported near 19 of the 20 cities. Only Kansas City, Kansas, sat outside the count. The largest hail logged that day was 3 inches. Reports of that size came near Belton, Grandview, Lee's Summit and Raymore, on the south side of the metro. Golf ball size hail was reported near cities in both states, from Shawnee to Liberty.

April 26, 2016

Another day with 19 cities, this time without Kansas City, Missouri. The largest hail logged was 1.75 inches, golf ball size. The golf ball reports came on the Missouri side, near Blue Springs, Grain Valley and Independence to the east. Belton and Raymore, to the south, had them too. A wide day does not need a giant stone.

May 26, 2016

Nineteen cities again, all but Belton. The largest hail was 2 inches, near Grain Valley and Independence. This day stands out for volume. Gladstone and Kansas City, Missouri, each had 16 reports of 1 inch or larger nearby. Kansas City, Kansas, and Parkville each had 15.

March 6, 2017

Nineteen cities, all but Belton, early in the year. The largest hail was 2.75 inches, baseball size, near Lenexa and Shawnee. Golf ball size hail reached as far north as Liberty. This day is why March counts as hail season here.

September 18, 2010

Not the widest day, but the largest hail in the record. Stones of 5.5 inches were reported near Blue Springs, Grain Valley, Independence, Lee's Summit and Raytown. That is twice the diameter of baseball size. Reports reached 11 of the 20 cities. Every one was in Missouri except Prairie Village. It came in September, long after spring.

September 16, 2025

The most recent wide day in the record. Hail was reported near 15 of the 20 cities. The largest was 1.75 inches, golf ball size, and in this record it came only near Kansas cities. Seven of them logged it, from Kansas City, Kansas, to Overland Park. This day sits in SPC's 2025 file, which can still be revised.

Which months bring hail

In every city in this record, March through June holds most of the reports. The peak month depends on where you live.

May leads in all 8 Kansas cities. Shawnee logged 67 reports in May alone, and Kansas City, Kansas, logged 65. May also leads in Gladstone, Liberty and Parkville, north of the Missouri River, and in Kansas City, Missouri.

East and south of downtown, the peak moves. March leads in Blue Springs, Grain Valley, Independence and Lee's Summit. April leads in Grandview, Raymore and Raytown. June leads in Belton.

September is a real second season. Lenexa logged 25 reports that month and Shawnee 22. In Independence and Grain Valley, September ranks second only to March.

Winter is quiet but not empty. No city logged a January report of 1 inch or larger. Yet a single day, November 2, 2016, put golf ball size hail near Gladstone, Liberty and Kansas City, Missouri. For more on timing, read Kansas City hail season.

Kansas side and Missouri side

On report counts, the Kansas side runs higher.

Every Kansas city logged at least 120 reports of 1 inch or larger. Five of the eight logged more than 150. Only two Missouri cities did, Gladstone with 164 and Kansas City with 156.

Golf ball days follow the same pattern. Kansas cities range from 11 to 22 days. Missouri cities range from 9 to 14.

The largest stones, though, fell on the Missouri side. All five cities near hail of 5.5 inches on September 18, 2010, are in Missouri. Lee's Summit logged 7 reports of baseball size or larger, more than any Kansas city.

One caution before you read too much into this. More reports can mean more hail, or simply more people watching. A storm nobody sees produces no report. The record cannot tell the two apart. It does show that both sides get hail, and both get big hail.

Using this record in a claim

This record shows hail reported near a city on a date. It does not prove that hail hit your street. It does not prove damage to your car.

Your carrier looks at the car itself, and the dents are the evidence.

What the record can do is help you name a date. If you are not sure which storm dented the car, a nearby report can help you pick the likely day before you call. Ask your carrier what it needs from you. For the claim side, read does insurance cover hail damage.

Find out what your car took

The record tells you hail came near. Only a look at the car tells you what it did. Call for a free assessment, and you get a dent count panel by panel. Each city page on service areas shows that city's own record.