StormProof → hail seasons → Birmingham → 1998
Birmingham hail season 1998
13 NWS-recorded hail reports ≥1″ within 30 miles, across 5 storm days, max 2.50". Every one of those reports is a dated, located, citable official record — the context behind this market's 1998 claim volume.
Biggest storm days (1998, final record)
| Date | ≥1″ reports | Max hail | Areas named in the record |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 14, 1998 | 7 | 2.50" | JEFFERSON, SHELBY |
| May 6, 1998 | 2 | 1.00" | SHELBY, JEFFERSON |
| April 8, 1998 | 2 | 1.75" | JEFFERSON, WALKER |
| May 7, 1998 | 1 | 1.00" | BLOUNT |
| April 18, 1998 | 1 | 1.75" | JEFFERSON |
“Tennis ball size hail was reported by an off duty weather service employee.”
— NWS event narrative, April 14, 1998 (NCEI Storm Events)
When it fell
Apr 10 · May 3
Wind context: the record also holds 26 thunderstorm-wind events ≥50 kt (≈58 mph, the NWS severe criterion) in this radius for 1998 — relevant where the dispute is wind vs hail causation.
Working a Birmingham claim from 1998?
These are aggregates. A claim file needs the per-address record: every recorded event within 1, 3 and 10 miles of the property, distances, official narratives, and citations an adjuster can check line by line. That's the report — generated in seconds, hosted on HailEvidence (the neutral evidence surface), formatted as an insurance-appeal attachment.
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Provenance
Final counts: NCEI Storm Events Database, file vintage c20260527, hail events with recorded magnitude ≥1.00″ and point coordinates within 30 miles of the Birmingham anchor. NWS records are point and path observations. The absence of a nearby report does NOT prove that no hail fell at this address — it means no observation was logged nearby. A report of nearby hail documents the event; it does not by itself prove damage to a specific structure. Spotted an error? Email the address on our terms page and we correct against the source.