Growing up in the 70s-80s, I don't recall hail being the thing it is now. Yes it happened, but it seems now every other severe thunderstorm has baseball sized hail. Is it happening more often, or is it just hyped more with social media?

If you're like me, I seriously doubt you paid attention to hail when you were younger because you didn't own anything impacted by it. Other than getting hit by it as a kid riding our bike through a nasty storm, I don't remember a thing about hail. Now that I own vehicles and a house, it's one of the first things on my mind in a big storm.

Definitely has become more frequent and larger here in the central Texas area. We would get it every once and a while when I was a kid but it was always pea or marble sized.

Being a kid growing up rural in the hill country in the 60's-70's, I remember lots of storms with hail. My dad and grandfather would watch for the "aqua green clouds" across the pastures when storms came. I remember them always saying " that storm cloud has hail in it"". Not unusual to have quarter and nickel size.
We would scramble to put livestock and animals up, put the equipment and trucks in the barn and close the shutters on the windows.
Seems like we did it all the time… so to me, it was just as common back then as now.
We just didn't have all the communication to talk about everywhere.

Not any real change in long term trends. There is just more human stuff and more people to be hit and VASTLY more information sources reporting on it and making it relevant.

I have seen some wonderful cotton crops over the years that were absolutely decimated.

The weather pattern will produce a couple of bad years of hail every decade or so.

There's more people to experience the hail and more stuff to get hailed on, so it is reported more. It used to be that if large hail fell all over a 100 acre pasture, no one really noticed. Now, that same 100 acre pasture may have 500-1000 homes on it in a lot of places. Think how much Houston, SA, Austin, and DFW have expanded in the last 30 years. Around where I live was mostly rural pasture about 30-40 years ago, and now it's got 30,000+ homes on it. Looking at a road map from 1995, the edge stops several miles short of where I live because they're was nothing here. Now I'm considered in the burbs and not even close to the boonies.

It's also easier to hear about hail. Everyone has a camera to document large hail and put it out on social media or the local news. Local news also has a lot better tracking and observation to see when large hail is probably coming down.

Good post. Well said.

ABATTBQ11 said:

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There's more people to experience the hail and more stuff to get hailed on, so it is reported more. It used to be that if large hail fell all over a 100 acre pasture, no one really noticed. Now, that same 100 acre pasture may have 500-1000 homes on it in a lot of places. Think how much Houston, SA, Austin, and DFW have expanded in the last 30 years. Around where I live was mostly rural pasture about 30-40 years ago, and now it's got 30,000+ homes on it. Looking at a road map from 1995, the edge stops several miles short of where I live because they're was nothing here. Now I'm considered in the burbs and not even close to the boonies.

It's also easier to hear about hail. Everyone has a camera to document large hail and put it out on social media or the local news. Local news also has a lot better tracking and observation to see when large hail is probably coming down.

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This is the answer in my opinion. Obviously I pay quite close attention. In my opinion, it's the same reason "the country is going to hell". It's not, it's just that you have a huge audience and easy ability to hear about things.

Not only because I'm a roofer, but I also have horse trailers, my beloved garden, animals, and other things I dealer care about. So I stay tuned in to hail. It is a regular occurrence here in the hill country. But is does SEEM like it's worse. I don't think it is though. Just like this drought, it seems bad but all of my neighbors say it's not the worst. So….

On top of this, you have an increase of building costs. Things doubled from when I started so add in all modes of severe weather and add in building costs, and that triggers a pretty wild outlook.

ag0207 said:

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Definitely has become more frequent and larger here in the central Texas area. We would get it every once and a while when I was a kid but it was always pea or marble sized.

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I'll argue just the opposite. I lived in the Waco area growing up, and moved back 20 years ago.

As a kid, I remember many hail storms and my parents replacing the roof several times.

In the 20 years I've been back, I've had hail at my house once, and it was pea sized, and the only reason I knew there was hail was because I was looking out the window. The hail lasted a few seconds and was gone.

Also of note..,
Vehicles used to be made out of much thicker sheet metal. You could beat on it with a hammer and not notice it. Now a bird poops on the hood and causes $3000 worth of damage. I made note of that when my sons older truck was parked next to my new truck during a hail storm, and the new truck was the only one with observable damage.

Moronic government cafe standards mean vehicles have to be built lighter, and that is one of the corners the manufacturers cut to get there.

There is more now. Dont know why, but there is. (at least in central texas)

I've had pea sized hail fall on me three times this year alone...and there seems to be the threat of hail with every storm (ie. some part of the city seems to get it with every thunderstorm).

10 years ago, I figured I'd get hail once every 5-6 years, and even then it wasn't damaging hail.

I'm sure it's just the natural cycle of things, but we've definitely seen an uptick.

Growing up in the 60's, pea sized hail wasn't even discussed, much less running out to take a picture. It didn't really damage anything. But when we did have a REAL hail storm, it was pretty awful. Baseball sized and wicked. I remember a lot of those growing up. Heaven forbid a truck be caught out in it. Dents I could put my fist in and a disappearing windshield. Animals that couldn't find shelter would sometimes be killed.

My folks gave up on the shake shingle roof and put on a tin one way before tin roofs were cool.

Texasclipper said:

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Growing up in the 70s-80s, I don't recall hail being the thing it is now. Yes it happened, but it seems now every other severe thunderstorm has baseball sized hail. Is it happening more often, or is it just hyped more with social media?

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back then both roofs and cars were made out of some thick arse metal that wasnt vulnerable to hail.

https://www.heritage.org/environment/report/twisters-and-trends-analysis-us-tornado-activity-and-climate-change

Not increasing

I'd argue that the Panhandle South Plains were the bullseye for severe weather in the 1960s through the 1980s, and the bullseye has since moved east. Tornado alley used to be Lubbock/Amarillo, now it's OKC/Dallas.

This summer has been one of our wettest in quite a while, and hail is also increased.

But I agree it's a perception, not reality. Everyone has a movie camera and a way to broadcast to the world. And more people live in rural areas.

Heck, there's just a lot more people to be affected.

Texas population:

32 million - 2025
16 million - 1989
8 million - 1955
4 million - 1915
2 million - 1885
1 million - 1875

Not only are there way more people and development/sprawl to be hailed on, but everyone of those people have a smartphone, those new houses have Ring cameras, and we all have social media and the internet.

You used to only know about hail if it happened to you or your neighbors. Now there's a 24hr news cycle that feeds you hail storm videos on tap, and message boards and facebook friends from around the state and country that are your "neighbors" talking about hail.

There has been more rain and more severe storms this year, thus probably more hail. It's been a long time since we had this much rain in the April - June time frame. My brothers are putting up round bales like crazy this year. Probably been 20 years since they have made this much hay. Raining at the right times as well.

True Dat!

CanyonAg77 said:

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I'd argue that the Panhandle South Plains were the bullseye for severe weather in the 1960s through the 1980s, and the bullseye has since moved east. Tornado alley used to be Lubbock/Amarillo, now it's OKC/Dallas.

This summer has been one of our wettest in quite a while, and hail is also increased.

But I agree it's a perception, not reality. Everyone has a movie camera and a way to broadcast to the world. And more people live in rural areas.

Heck, there's just a lot more people to be affected.

Texas population:

32 million - 2025
16 million - 1989
8 million - 1955
4 million - 1915
2 million - 1885
1 million - 1875

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More soft targets

Man, that's right. Finished rolling up our bermuda waterway yesterday. rolled up 43 bales on a field that usually does 20-25 on a decent year. Still have 150 sudan left from last year because it was a good year for hay too, and a customer that usually buys apparently found it closer.

We've been in our home for 3 years and will put the 3rd roof on after this hail season.

Texas panhandle weather is no joke.

We had a stretch where we put 5 roofs on over 7 years on the little farmhouse we used to live in and is now my office. We went with heavy gauge metal last time and it shows no cosmetic damage through these recent storms. Will likely go metal on the house this time. I'm tired of fighting it.

Better weather models, social media, and more people/houses/cars = seems like more but isn't. We just see it more.

Metal is where it's at. Buy once cry once. I won't install any other product on my own houses and barns. Multiple hail storms have put some tiny dings in it but it's good to go. Last metal I took off to replace on my house was 60 years old and only leaked because the rusted where they screwed in lightning rod mounts. Those were decommissioned and there are no penetrations whatsoever on any part of the metal except one plumbing vent. I carry a very high deductible and am happy with it.

Absolutely, there are only 2 composite roofs on the farm. At least 1 of those will turn metal this time my father in law can make up his mind on his.

We have 9 structures on our farm so when hail comes it doesn't take long for roofing companies to show up knocking on doors. But my guy does all of our roofing work. He has for over a decade.

I think this is real.

The edge of the hailstormpic.twitter.com/VPNHoYtowB

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) June 28, 2025

SunrayAg said:

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Also of note..,
Vehicles used to be made out of much thicker sheet metal. You could beat on it with a hammer and not notice it. Now a bird poops on the hood and causes $3000 worth of damage. I made note of that when my sons older truck was parked next to my new truck during a hail storm, and the new truck was the only one with observable damage.

Moronic government cafe standards mean vehicles have to be built lighter, and that is one of the corners the manufacturers cut to get there.

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The lighter material does help with gas mileage but it also helps with acceleration and shorter braking distances. Additionally, the lighter materials are designed to crumple to absorb the energy in a collision so that energy is not transferred to the passenger. No one can argue that a car today, even though made of lighter materials, is orders of magnitude safer than in the 70s.

Oh, and I grew up in the 70s with cars/trucks with thick steel and we were in a heavy hailstorm region. All those cars and trucks drove around with hail damage - most owners just gave up getting repaired as you were just a few months to a year away from the next golf ball hailstorm

CanyonAg77 said:

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I'd argue that the Panhandle South Plains were the bullseye for severe weather in the 1960s through the 1980s, and the bullseye has since moved east. Tornado alley used to be Lubbock/Amarillo, now it's OKC/Dallas.

This summer has been one of our wettest in quite a while, and hail is also increased.

But I agree it's a perception, not reality. Everyone has a movie camera and a way to broadcast to the world. And more people live in rural areas.

Heck, there's just a lot more people to be affected.

Texas population:

32 million - 2025
16 million - 1989
8 million - 1955
4 million - 1915
2 million - 1885
1 million - 1875

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No wonder I loved Texas so much more in the 80s and 90s.