IBHS analyzes data from the Community Collaborative Rain Hail and Snow (CoCoRaHS) measurement program to understand hailstorm characteristics. CoCoRaHS is a successful citizen scientist observation campaign that collects precipitation measurements to supplement conventional observations.

IBHS collaborated with the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and Colorado State University (CSU) to compile CoCoRaHS hailpad observations from 1999 to 2014 into a single dataset. The observations were used to examine the general characteristics of hailstorms and observer-recorded damage. The dataset included more than 22,000 observations from all 50 states, allowing IBHS to also explore hailstorm characteristics by region.

By 2018, the CoCoRaHS dataset had grown to over 37,000 cases, so IBHS reanalyzed the larger dataset. This report was released in 2019.

[Members Only] Data from the 2019 Reanalysis Summary is available for download.

Click to visit data page.