Buchanan County, Iowa Hail Map & History
Buchanan County was hit as recently as 2026-10-13, 17 days ago. Buchanan County is hit in most years. The largest stone on record here is 3.25 inches and 3.2 times the National Weather Service's 1 inch severe criterion, reported on 2026-04-14 near Otterville.
Hail size, inches
- 0.25 in, pea
- 0.75 in, penny
- 1 in, quarter
- 1.25 in, half dollar
- 1.5 in, ping pong ball
- 1.75 in, golf ball
- 2 in, hen egg
- 2.5 in, tennis ball
- 3 in and up, teacup
Colored swath = NOAA MRMS radar-estimated hail size; dots = NOAA SPC reports in Iowa. Radar-indicated, not a guarantee of damage.
The last hail here fell on 2026-10-13, around Hazleton. A free SwathIQ account -- hand-reviewed, invite within 24-48h -- pulls Buchanan County addresses inside a hail swath above your size threshold into a door-knock list you can export, scoped to your approved markets.
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See call-center options ->How often it hails in Buchanan County
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has logged 22 separate hail days here since 2010 -- 1.3 a year over 17 years of record. Those days carry 52 separate reports between them, two or three on a typical one. 5 of those 17 years produced none at all. The busiest single year was 2024, with 4 hail days. The last five years have run hotter than the long-run rate: 10 days since 2022, against 1.0 a year before that.
Most hail here stays under 2 inches: only 2 of the 22 days on record passed it, 9%, the last on 2026-04-14. Those big days do not follow the county's usual calendar: most of them fall in April, not May. 8 of the 22 days reached golf-ball size, 1.75 inches or bigger.
Across the whole of Iowa, see the Iowa hail map and history.
Hardest-hit places in Buchanan County
Reports cluster nearest Independence -- 8 of the county's 22 hail days -- then Aurora (5), Otterville (3), Jesup (3) and Winthrop (3). Beyond those, NOAA names Lamont and Rowley on more than one hail day apiece.
| Place | Hail days since 2010 | Largest stone |
|---|---|---|
| 1 WNW Independence | 4 | 1.75″ |
| Jesup | 3 | 1.75″ |
| 1 N Independence | 2 | 1.75″ |
| 2 Se Otterville | 2 | 1.75″ |
| Aurora | 2 | 1.00″ |
When it hails in Buchanan County
The season runs April through June: 18 of the 22 hail days on record fall in those 3 months (82%). May is the single busiest month, with 7 of them (32%). That peak sits inside the window rather than at either end. Hail has also been reported in March, July, August and October, outside that window. Reports span 7 of the 12 calendar months; the other 5 have never produced one.
| Month | Hail days |
|---|---|
| March | 1 |
| April | 5 |
| May | 7 |
| June | 6 |
| July | 1 |
| August | 1 |
| October | 1 |
Recent Buchanan County hail days
That day put 2 reports on the map, the biggest 1.54 inches near Hazleton. 3 hail days have already been reported this year.
| Date | Max hail | Reports |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-13 | 1.54″ | 2 |
| 2026-08-07 | 1.75″ | 1 |
| 2026-04-14 | 3.25″ | 6 |
| 2024-05-27 | 1.50″ | 1 |
| 2024-05-24 | 1.75″ | 1 |
| 2024-05-08 | 1.00″ | 1 |
| 2024-05-07 | 1.00″ | 2 |
| 2023-05-07 | 1.25″ | 1 |
How to read the Buchanan County map
The colored swath is NOAA's MRMS radar estimate of the largest hail per ~1 km cell; the dots are SPC ground reports. Deep violet is about an inch, the violet grows lighter as the hail grows, and pale lilac to near-white is 2″ and up (hail size vs roof damage). On this county's worst day the reports reached 3.25 inches, which is the pale lilac band. Look up a street address with the hail history by address tool.
Nearby counties
The nearest counties with a page of their own: Fayette County (23 hail days), Delaware County (17) and Black Hawk County (24). Buchanan County sits in between.
Fayette County · Delaware County · Black Hawk County
Back to the Iowa hail map or the U.S. hail map.
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Data & method: NOAA/NWS Storm Prediction Center reports + NOAA MRMS MESH radar, Buchanan County, Iowa only. Radar-indicated and observation-based -- informational only, not a guarantee of damage or a valid claim.