204
Recorded events
0
Direct deaths
0
Direct injuries
$15.7M
Property damage
Hail in Kanawha County, West Virginia: 204 recorded events between 1958 and 2026. The strongest on record measured 4.25. That places the county #599 nationally and #1 statewide for this hazard.
Decade by decade
Hail in Kanawha County, West Virginia: events per decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
The busiest decade for hail in Kanawha County is the 2000s, when 68 of the county's 204 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 Kanawha County archive, hail makes up 20.7% of all recorded severe weather across 11 hazard types. Nationally the county sits at #599 for this hazard and #1 within West Virginia, putting it in the 80.8 percentile of all U.S. counties.
Seasonality
Events by month
Jun is the peak month for hail in Kanawha County with 55 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 1, 2026 | SPRING HILL | 0.75 | $0 |
| May 5, 2025 | BLUNDON | 1 | $0 |
| May 5, 2025 | SISSONVILLE | 1 | $0 |
| May 5, 2025 | ELKVIEW | 1 | $0 |
| May 5, 2025 | CREED | 1 | $0 |
| May 5, 2025 | SOUTH RUFFNER | 0.75 | $0 |
| May 5, 2025 | RUTLEDGE | 0.88 | $0 |
| May 5, 2025 | ELK | 0.75 | $0 |
| May 5, 2025 | (CRW) YEAGER ARPT | 1 | $0 |
| May 5, 2025 | SOUTH PARK | 0.75 | $0 |
Other hazards here
More from Kanawha County
- Thunderstorm Wind 541
- Flash Flood 117
- Flood 76
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
Hail, the size of golf balls to tennis balls, fell on the West Side hills of Charleston, then across the Knollwood and Mink Shoals vicinity, to Coonskin Park and Capital High School. The swath of hail then reached toward Crede and Big Chimney. This path narrowly missed the more densely populated Kanawha River Valley. Nevertheless, hundreds of homes and vehicles were damaged by hail. Some of the damaged vehicles had been traveling on Interstate 79 near Mink Shoals. The 2 largest insurance companies reported a total of 1600 claims, costing about 5 million dollars. The storm also contained torrential rains. A spotter between Big Chimney and Pinch recorded 2.7 inches of rain in less than 30 minutes. Meanwhile, the airport measured 1.2 inches in less than an hour. Flooding in Kanawha County was mostly minor.
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many hail events are on record in Kanawha County, West Virginia?
204 hail events are recorded in Kanawha County between 1958 and 2026, causing 0 direct deaths.
What is the strongest hail recorded in Kanawha County?
The strongest hail on record in Kanawha County measured 4.25.
Where does the hail data for Kanawha 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 Kanawha County, West Virginia.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/west-virginia/kanawha-county/hail/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.