StormProof → hail seasons → Chicago → 1997
Chicago hail season 1997
10 NWS-recorded hail reports ≥1″ within 45 miles, across 4 storm days, max 2.00". Every one of those reports is a dated, located, citable official record — the context behind this market's 1997 claim volume.
Biggest storm days (1997, final record)
| Date | ≥1″ reports | Max hail | Areas named in the record |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 18, 1997 | 4 | 1.75" | WILL, LAKE, COOK, DU PAGE |
| May 5, 1997 | 3 | 2.00" | LAKE, WILL, PORTER |
| June 20, 1997 | 2 | 1.75" | DU PAGE, COOK |
| August 3, 1997 | 1 | 1.00" | MCHENRY |
“An area of strong to severe thunderstorms moved into north central Illinois in the early afternoon and moved southeast through the Chicago suburbs during the mid-afternoon and exited Kanakakee and Iroquios counties by late afternoon. There were numerous reports of tree limbs or trees blown down and power lines downed. Two small tornadoes or gustnadoes were embedded in the strong winds - one in Wheaton and one in Moke”
— NWS event narrative, July 18, 1997 (NCEI Storm Events)
When it fell
May 3 · Jun 2 · Jul 4 · Aug 1
Wind context: the record also holds 38 thunderstorm-wind events ≥50 kt (≈58 mph, the NWS severe criterion) in this radius for 1997 — relevant where the dispute is wind vs hail causation.
Working a Chicago claim from 1997?
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 45 miles of the Chicago 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.