259
Recorded events
0
Direct deaths
0
Direct injuries
$65K
Property damage
Hail in Pottawattamie County, Iowa: 259 recorded events between 1962 and 2026. The strongest on record measured 4. That places the county #406 nationally and #9 statewide for this hazard.
Decade by decade
Hail in Pottawattamie County, Iowa: events per decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
The busiest decade for hail in Pottawattamie County is the 2000s, when 84 of the county's 259 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 Pottawattamie County archive, hail makes up 45.9% of all recorded severe weather across 8 hazard types. Nationally the county sits at #406 for this hazard and #9 within Iowa, putting it in the 87.0 percentile of all U.S. counties.
Seasonality
Events by month
Jun is the peak month for hail in Pottawattamie County with 67 recorded events, while Jan 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 23, 2026 | OAKLAND | 1 | $0 |
| Apr 23, 2026 | COUNCIL BLUFFS | 1 | $0 |
| Apr 23, 2026 | COUNCIL BLUFFS | 1 | $0 |
| Apr 23, 2026 | HONEY CREEK | 1 | $0 |
| Apr 24, 2025 | WESTON | 1 | $0 |
| Apr 24, 2025 | CHAUTAUQUA | 1.75 | $0 |
| Apr 24, 2025 | CHAUTAUQUA | 1.75 | $0 |
| Apr 24, 2025 | CHAUTAUQUA | 1.75 | $0 |
| Apr 24, 2025 | CHAUTAUQUA | 1.25 | $0 |
| Apr 24, 2025 | COUNCIL BLUFFS | 1.25 | $0 |
Other hazards here
More from Pottawattamie County
- Thunderstorm Wind 195
- Tornado 57
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
Approximately 50 acres of crops were completely flattened in an area approximately 2.5 miles long and 1 mile wide centered near 340th and Juniper Rd. In this area the hail covered the ground white with a few stones nearly half dollar-size and was accompanied by winds at least at 40 mph. Otherwise damage was spotty. Heavy rain also accompanied the thunderstorm reducing visibility to a quarter mile or less along Highway 6 for a short period of time. In Oakland, a report of 0.80 inches of rain fell in 15 minutes.
Hail up to baseball-size which was accompanied by thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at around 60 mph caused extensive damage to homes and vehicles in the Council Bluffs area. Iowa Western Community College had at least a million dollars worth of damage to buildings, mainly to roofs, windows and siding, according to the college's vice president of marketing and public relations.
Low pressure moved across central Nebraska as its associated warm front remained nearly stationary over eastern Nebraska. An upper level shortwave, unstable atmosphere, and cool low level temperatures combined to yield scattered thunderstorms that produced mainly large hail from near Gretna, across the Omaha/Council Bluffs Metropolitan area, east to Treynor, Iowa.
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many hail events are on record in Pottawattamie County, Iowa?
259 hail events are recorded in Pottawattamie County between 1962 and 2026, causing 0 direct deaths.
What is the strongest hail recorded in Pottawattamie County?
The strongest hail on record in Pottawattamie County measured 4.
Where does the hail data for Pottawattamie 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 Pottawattamie County, Iowa.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/iowa/pottawattamie-county/hail/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.