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Hail: Becoming A Global Leader in Hail Research
Reducing Property Losses and Enhancing Forecasting and Hail Radar Detection
IBHS Hail Research leads field and laboratory studies to reduce hail damage and improve hail forecasting and detection. Hail can strike anywhere strong thunderstorms form, posing a major risk to homes, roofs, and businesses across the U.S.
IBHS studies hail from every angle — tracking hailstorms in the field, simulating hail impacts in the IBHS Research Center’s Hail Lab, and studying how roof age affects performance in different climates. These efforts provide science-based data that help strengthen building materials, improve roof performance, and build more resilient communities.
Featured Research
Hail Impact-Resistant Shingle Ratings
Impact Testing of High Concentrations of Small Hail
Hail Field Research
Field Research Study
The IBHS Hail Field Study collects on-the-ground data from real hailstorms each year to enhance radar-based detection, refine laboratory testing, and understand how environmental factors and regional differences influence hail impacts on buildings.
Hail Events: Improving Hail Detection, Forecasting, & Loss Modeling
Through ongoing field studies and partnerships with leading universities, IBHS gathers unique, real-world hail data to improve detection, forecasting, and modeling.
This research helps predict hailstone size and distribution across storms, enhances loss prediction models, and provides insights that help claims adjusters identify legitimate hail damage and reduce fraud.
Hail Post-Disaster Investigations
IBHS partners with insurers to analyze claims data and conduct post-storm field investigations, helping quantify how hail impacts homes, businesses, and insurance losses. By sharing information, members help IBHS identify building vulnerabilities, validate damage trends, and develop strategies that reduce future hail-related losses.
[Members Only] Hail Event: 4/20/24 in Rock Hill, SC
[Members Only] Hail Event: 5/24/11 in Dallas-Fort Worth, TX
IBHS Research Center & The Hail Lab
In the Hail Lab, IBHS lab technicians along with researchers test individual building materials under highly controlled conditions to understand how they perform in real storms. Using lab-manufactured hailstones designed to match the size and density of those collected from the field, the lab team fires them at roofing materials with a pressurized cannon to precisely replicate real-world impacts. These experiments provide valuable insights into how construction materials withstand severe weather.
Hail & Asphalt Shingles
Hail & Other Materials
Roof Aging Farm Research
Most building science focuses on new materials, overlooking how roofs naturally deteriorate under weather and sunlight. To close that gap, IBHS launched the Roof Aging Farm Program in 2013—an ongoing study exposing real roof systems to diverse climates across the U.S. to understand how time, temperature, and storms affect performance.
