Adair County, IA hail & severe wind history
139 storm reports on file for Adair County between 2010-04-02 and 2025-08-10 — 74 hail and 65 severe thunderstorm wind. That averages 8.7 reports a year, and Jun is the busiest month.
At a glance
- Most recent hail report: Apr 28, 2025 — 0.75" (penny), 0.52 mi E of Adair. Last quarter-size (1") or larger: Mar 14, 2025, 1".
- Hail was reported on 34 days since 2010 — about 2.1 hail days a year.
- Largest hail on record: 4" (grapefruit) on Jun 18, 2021.
- Adair County has more hail reports than 70% of the 99 Iowa counties we cover.
Search every Adair County report
Check a single date first, or filter the full record below — pick a year, narrow to a month, or drag the hail-size slider to see only the larger stones (1", quarter size, is the National Weather Service severe threshold).
Loading Adair County storm reports…
Worst storm days in Adair County
| Date | Reports that day | Largest hail | Peak gust |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-03-05 | 7 | 2.75" (baseball) | — |
| 2011-03-22 | 7 | 1.75" (golf ball) | 64 mph |
| 2022-06-07 | 7 | 1.25" (half dollar) | 63 mph |
| 2018-06-28 | 7 | — | 70 mph |
| 2024-04-30 | 5 | 1" (quarter) | — |
| 2023-04-04 | 4 | 1.75" (golf ball) | — |
| 2025-03-14 | 4 | 1.5" (ping pong ball) | 70 mph |
| 2011-06-26 | 4 | — | 66 mph |
| 2023-05-07 | 3 | 2.5" (tennis ball) | — |
| 2014-06-30 | 3 | 2.5" (tennis ball) | 60 mph |
Reports by year
Report counts are driven partly by how many people were around to report a storm, so recent years tend to look busier than the early 2010s. Treat the trend as a reporting trend, not purely a weather trend.
Notable large-hail events (2" and up)
| Date | Size | Near | What was reported |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-05-07 | 2.25" hen egg | 4.18 mi S of Bridgewater | Hail fell for about 20 minutes and included damage to siding. |
| 2023-05-07 | 2.5" tennis ball | 4.18 mi S of Bridgewater | Largest stornes were tennis ball sized and resulted in damage to siding on house. |
| 2022-03-05 | 2" hen egg | .52 mi E of Orient | Trained spotter report of 2 inch hail in Orient, Iowa. |
| 2022-03-05 | 2.75" baseball | 0 mi N of Orient | Storm chaser report of baseball size hail accompanied with significant damage to vehicles via twitter. |
| 2022-03-05 | 2" hen egg | .86 mi NW of Orient | Two inch hail reported. |
| 2022-03-05 | 2.5" tennis ball | 2.5 mi WNW of Zion | Spotter report of ongoing tennis ball hail east northeast of Orient. |
| 2021-06-18 | 4" grapefruit | .52 mi E of Bridgewater | Trained spotter reported large 4 inch irregular shaped hail stone. |
| 2014-06-30 | 2.5" tennis ball | .34 mi E of Adair | Emergency manager reported around 190 homes in Adair were damaged by large hail driven by strong to severe wind. Numerous trees were damaged. Crops shredded by the wind driven hail. Cars on I-80 had broken windows. |
When does hail hit Adair County?
Across 16 years of records, June produced the most reports (47), followed by the months either side of it. Monthly totals:
| Month | Reports | Share |
|---|---|---|
| January | 0 | 0.0% |
| February | 0 | 0.0% |
| March | 18 | 12.9% |
| April | 17 | 12.2% |
| May | 21 | 15.1% |
| June | 47 | 33.8% |
| July | 9 | 6.5% |
| August | 17 | 12.2% |
| September | 3 | 2.2% |
| October | 4 | 2.9% |
| November | 1 | 0.7% |
| December | 2 | 1.4% |
Neighboring counties
Counties that share a border with Adair County (U.S. Census county adjacency), where we have storm records:
| County | Storm reports | Largest hail |
|---|---|---|
| Dallas County, IA | 268 | 3" |
| Guthrie County, IA | 170 | 3.5" |
| Cass County, IA | 117 | 3" |
| Madison County, IA | 114 | 2.75" |
| Union County, IA | 113 | 3" |
| Adams County, IA | 86 | 3" |
| Audubon County, IA | 86 | 1.75" |
Common questions about hail in Adair County
- How often does it hail in Adair County?
- Hail was reported on 34 separate days between 2010 and 2025, about 2.1 days a year, with June the busiest month for storm reports. 59 reports were quarter size (1") or larger.
- Does a report here mean hail hit my street?
- Not necessarily. Each report is one observation tied to a nearby landmark, and a county can be large. Storms also go unreported where few people live. Use the date check above to see what was reported nearby, and treat it as a starting point.
- How big is a 1.75" hailstone?
- Forecasters describe hail by everyday objects: 1" is a quarter, 1.75" a golf ball, 2.75" a baseball. The sizes in these reports are estimates made by the person reporting, not lab measurements.
- Where do I get the official record?
- All reports here come from the NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, which you can search directly. For anything formal, use NOAA’s own records rather than this page.
Look up another place
About these numbers
Every row above is a report filed with the National Weather Service and archived in the NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database (FIPS 19001). Reports are eyewitness, trained-spotter and damage-survey observations, so they cluster near roads and towns and miss storms over empty country. Hail sizes are estimates. Damage figures are preliminary as filed and are never revised in this archive. Use this page for background, not for an insurance claim, a legal filing, or a roof assessment — for those, get the official record from NOAA directly.