512
Recorded events
0
Direct deaths
0
Direct injuries
$32.8M
Property damage
Hail in Lea County, New Mexico: 512 recorded events between 1957 and 2025. The strongest on record measured 4.5. That places the county #81 nationally and #2 statewide for this hazard.
Decade by decade
Hail in Lea County, New Mexico: events per decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
The busiest decade for hail in Lea County is the 1990s, when 143 of the county's 512 recorded events were logged. Comparing decades is useful for spotting active periods, but the earliest years are thin because systematic reporting for this hazard began later.
Within the Lea County archive, hail makes up 51.7% of all recorded severe weather across 8 hazard types. Nationally the county sits at #81 for this hazard and #2 within New Mexico, putting it in the 97.4 percentile of all U.S. counties.
Seasonality
Events by month
May is the peak month for hail in Lea County with 179 recorded events, while Feb is the quietest. Seasonality here is a property of the archive as much as the climate: reports cluster where population and spotter networks are densest.
Most recent
Latest recorded events
| Date | Location | Magnitude | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 7, 2025 | HOBBS IND ARPT | 1 | $0 |
| Jun 7, 2025 | HOBBS | 2 | $0 |
| Jun 7, 2025 | HOBBS | 1.75 | $0 |
| Jun 7, 2025 | HOBBS | 1.75 | $65K |
| Jun 7, 2025 | HOBBS | 1.75 | $0 |
| Jun 7, 2025 | HOBBS | 0.75 | $0 |
| Jun 7, 2025 | HOBBS | 1.5 | $0 |
| Jun 7, 2025 | HOBBS IND ARPT | 1.75 | $0 |
| Jun 6, 2025 | CROSSROADS | 1 | $0 |
| Jun 5, 2025 | NORTH LEA CO ARPT | 3 | $0 |
Other hazards here
More from Lea County
- Thunderstorm Wind 274
- Tornado 97
- Flash Flood 88
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
This storm moving to the southeast became an HP Supercell as it passed over the city of Hobbs. By the time the storm arrived over the southern parts of town, hail up to tennis ball size was falling along with strong winds. Most of the trees over the southern 1/3 of town were stripped of their leaves, and numerous houses and cars suffered damage. Streets had hail stacked up over one foot deep in some areas. This storm moved to the southeast into Texas and continued to produce severe weather in Andrews, Winkler, and Ward Counties.
Very large hail caused extensive damage along a swath from near Buckeye to Lovington. Baseball size hail was reported at 16:10 MST just south of Buckeye. An anticyclonic member of a splitting supercell storm rapidly propagated north-northeast towards Lovington. Initial reports of large hail up to the size of baseballs in Lovington were received at 16:30 MST. Within five minutes, destructive golfball to baseball size hailstones severely damaged up to 200 vehicles and approximately 1,000 homes and businesses across the city.
The Lovington Police Department reported giant hail just north of Lovington. Softball size hail combined with severe wind gusts to damage structures and vehicles. The largest hail and the most intense winds occurred over less populated areas just outside of the city's limits.
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many hail events are on record in Lea County, New Mexico?
512 hail events are recorded in Lea County between 1957 and 2025, causing 0 direct deaths.
What is the strongest hail recorded in Lea County?
The strongest hail on record in Lea County measured 4.5.
Where does the hail data for Lea County come from?
All events come from the NOAA/NCEI Storm Events Database, the federal public-domain archive of severe weather reports. Dates are UTC, damage is as reported and not inflation-adjusted, and the most recent entries may still be revised.
Cite this page
“Hail in Lea County, New Mexico.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/new-mexico/lea-county/hail/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.