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Hail size chart
Hail is almost never measured with a ruler in the moment. People compare it to something familiar — a pea, a quarter, a golf ball — and the National Weather Service turns those comparisons into sizes in inches. This chart lists the standard comparisons and how often each one turns up in the 83,626 hail reports we hold for Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, Colorado.
The comparison objects
| Looks like a… | Inches | cm | Reports | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pea | 0.25" | 0.6 | 1 | 0.0% |
| Marble | 0.5" | 1.3 | 7 | 0.0% |
| Penny | 0.75" | 1.9 | 7,852 | 9.4% |
| Nickel | 0.88" | 2.2 | 8,153 | 9.7% |
| Quarter severe threshold | 1" | 2.5 | 32,244 | 38.6% |
| Half dollar | 1.25" | 3.2 | 6,898 | 8.2% |
| Ping pong ball | 1.5" | 3.8 | 6,716 | 8.0% |
| Golf ball | 1.75" | 4.4 | 12,675 | 15.2% |
| Hen egg | 2" | 5.1 | 3,738 | 4.5% |
| Tennis ball | 2.5" | 6.3 | 2,018 | 2.4% |
| Baseball | 2.75" | 7.0 | 1,919 | 2.3% |
| Teacup | 3" | 7.6 | 904 | 1.1% |
| Grapefruit | 4" | 10.2 | 350 | 0.4% |
| Softball | 4.5" | 11.4 | 151 | 0.2% |
A report is counted in the band of the largest object it reaches — a 1.5" report is in “Ping pong ball”, a 3.25" report in “Teacup”. 0 reports were under 1/4" and 0 hail reports had no size recorded.
What the sizes mean
The National Weather Service treats hail of 1 inch (quarter size) or larger as severe — that is the size at which a thunderstorm warning is issued for hail. In our data, 67,613 of the 83,626 sized hail reports (81%) met that threshold.
As general guidance, stones below about 1 inch rarely do structural damage, while quarter-size and larger hail can dent cars and damage roofing, and golf-ball (1.75") and larger stones can break windows and skylights. Real damage depends heavily on wind, roof material and age, and how long the hail fell, so size alone does not tell you what happened to a particular building.
Largest hail in our records
The biggest stone in the reports we cover is 8" (20.3 cm), reported on Jul 23, 2010 in Lyman County, South Dakota. See the county rankings for where large hail falls most often.
Reading sizes in a storm report
- Sizes are estimates. Most come from spotters and the public comparing stones to objects; a few are measured.
- One report is one spot. Hail size can change a lot across a few miles, so the largest report is not what every property saw.
- Reports round to familiar objects. That is why 1", 1.75" and 2.75" appear far more often than sizes in between.
Want to check a particular day? Use how to check if it hailed at an address, or search your ZIP code or town from the home page.