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Winneshiek County, IA hail & severe wind history
117 storm reports on file for Winneshiek County between 2010-04-02 and 2025-08-16 — 37 hail and 80 severe thunderstorm wind. That averages 7.3 reports a year, and Aug is the busiest month.
At a glance
- Most recent hail report: Aug 16, 2025 — 1" (quarter), 1.01 mi E of Calmar.
- Hail was reported on 18 days since 2010 — about 1.3 hail days a year.
- Largest hail on record: 2" (hen egg) on May 15, 2017.
- Winneshiek County has more hail reports than 20% of the 99 Iowa counties we cover.
Search every Winneshiek 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 Winneshiek County storm reports…
Worst storm days in Winneshiek County
| Date | Reports that day | Largest hail | Peak gust |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-05-15 | 12 | 2" (hen egg) | 82 mph |
| 2012-07-18 | 6 | 1.75" (golf ball) | 64 mph |
| 2014-04-12 | 6 | 1" (quarter) | — |
| 2012-08-09 | 5 | 2" (hen egg) | 70 mph |
| 2014-08-18 | 5 | 1.75" (golf ball) | — |
| 2014-06-29 | 5 | 1.75" (golf ball) | 62 mph |
| 2024-08-05 | 5 | — | 75 mph |
| 2022-04-12 | 5 | — | 62 mph |
| 2022-07-23 | 4 | — | 68 mph |
| 2012-09-04 | 3 | 1.5" (ping pong ball) | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-05-15 | 2" hen egg | 0 mi N of Ft Atkinson | Large, wind driven hail pounded Ft. Atkinson. An estimated 70 to 80 percent of the buildings in the town sustained siding and roof damage. |
| 2017-05-15 | 2" hen egg | .5 mi E of Calmar | Egg sized hail fell in Calmar. |
| 2012-08-09 | 2" hen egg | .7 mi S of Decorah Tatro Arpt | Hail the size of hen eggs was reported two miles west of Decorah. |
When does hail hit Winneshiek County?
Across 14 years of records, August produced the most reports (27), followed by the months either side of it. Monthly totals:
| Month | Reports | Share |
|---|---|---|
| January | 0 | 0.0% |
| February | 0 | 0.0% |
| March | 0 | 0.0% |
| April | 15 | 12.8% |
| May | 25 | 21.4% |
| June | 22 | 18.8% |
| July | 19 | 16.2% |
| August | 27 | 23.1% |
| September | 8 | 6.8% |
| October | 0 | 0.0% |
| November | 0 | 0.0% |
| December | 1 | 0.9% |
Neighboring counties
Counties that share a border with Winneshiek County (U.S. Census county adjacency), where we have storm records:
| County | Storm reports | Largest hail |
|---|---|---|
| Clayton County, IA | 128 | 2.5" |
| Fayette County, IA | 108 | 2" |
| Chickasaw County, IA | 76 | 2.75" |
| Howard County, IA | 76 | 3.5" |
| Allamakee County, IA | 71 | 2" |
Common questions about hail in Winneshiek County
- How often does it hail in Winneshiek County?
- Hail was reported on 18 separate days between 2010 and 2025, about 1.3 days a year, with August the busiest month for storm reports. 27 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 19191). 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.