When Is Hail Season in Kansas City?

Hail season in Kansas City runs March through June, and May is the peak. That is what ten years of NOAA's Storm Events Database show for the seven-county metro: Johnson, Wyandotte and Leavenworth counties in Kansas, and Jackson, Clay, Platte and Cass counties in Missouri. From 2016 to 2025 those counties logged 637 hail reports, and about seven in ten fell in those four months. Most of it arrives mid-afternoon into the evening. September adds a few big storms of its own.

So the month to get ready is March, before the first storm, not May in a parking lot after it. Here is when hail actually falls here, how big it gets, and the short list to run before the season starts.

When hail falls in Kansas City, month by month

First, what the numbers count. A report is one observation: one place, one time, one hail size. One storm usually produces many reports, so the number of separate hail days matters as much as the report count.

Here is the metro from 2016 through 2025, ten full years:

• May: 191 reports on 22 days. The peak, by a wide margin. That is a little over two May hail days a year on average.
• March: 97 reports on 13 days.
• April: 80 reports on 16 days.
• June: 73 reports on 15 days.
• September: 78 reports on only 7 days. Not a season, a handful of big storms.
• July and August: 35 reports on 11 days, and 37 on 8.
• October through February: 46 reports in all. November's 16 came on a single day, and so did February's 21. January had none.

Add up March through June and you get 441 of the 637 reports. Most of the metro's hail falls in spring, and March is already part of the season, not a warm-up to it.

That tells you when. The hour tells you where the car is likely to be when it hits.

What time of day hail hits

Most metro hail reports start mid-afternoon and run into the evening. That window covers the drive home, the errand stop and the evening game, so on many storm days the car is in a lot at work or outside a store, not in your garage.

There is also an early-morning cluster: 38 of the ten years' reports came in a single early-morning hour. That is the storm people find on their car on the way to work.

One caution if you look up a storm yourself. NOAA logs times in Central Standard Time all year, so in summer a listed time reads one hour early against the clock on your wall. Treat the exact hour as a rough guide.

What this means for your planning:

• Afternoon storms in the forecast? Decide where you park at work before you leave the house. A parking structure or a covered spot beats an open lot.
• Storm overnight? Walk around the car in daylight before you drive it, so you know what you are reporting.

Knowing when is half of it. The other half is how big Kansas City hail gets.

How big Kansas City hail gets

Big enough to matter. Of the 637 metro reports from 2016 to 2025, 131 were 1.75 inches or larger. That is about one in five, and 1.75 inches is golf ball size on the National Weather Service hail size chart.

The National Weather Service calls a thunderstorm severe once it produces hail 1 inch across, about the size of a quarter, or larger. That line is about forecasting, not about cars. No source sets a safe size, and hail under that line is still worth checking for, and the roof usually takes the most hits while being the hardest panel to see from the ground. If you are wondering whether a particular storm was big enough to dent your car, read what size hail damages a car.

Recent seasons fit the pattern. On March 10, 2026 the metro logged 33 reports, up to 3.00 inches, across Johnson, Leavenworth and Wyandotte counties. On May 19, 2025 it logged 35, up to 2.50 inches, across five counties. Every metro hail day NOAA logged from January 2025 through June 25, 2026 is listed in Kansas City hail storms 2025-2026.

Size and timing tell you what is coming. What you do in March decides how the claim goes after.

The March checklist

A few minutes now saves you from learning the claim process in a parking lot. Before the first spring storm:

• Find your comprehensive deductible. On a standard auto policy, hail is an other-than-collision loss, which is the comprehensive part of the policy. Your declarations page shows the deductible for it, and a deductible applies each time you file a claim.
• Check for rental reimbursement. It is an optional add-on, separate from comprehensive. Where you carry it, it pays a limited daily amount for a rental while the car is repaired for a covered loss, usually capped in dollars and in days.
• Photograph every panel. Daylight, low angle, light running across the panels: hood, roof, trunk lid and both sides. Straight-on photos hide dents. These pictures are your record of the car before the season.
• Deal with old damage. If the car still carries dents from an earlier storm, get them documented now, so this year's damage is not mixed in with last year's.
• Know where the car will sit. Garage space, a covered deck at work, a parking structure near the office. Decide before the warning, not during it.
• Know the shop. Pick where the car will be scanned and repaired before you need it.

Then, when a storm does come through, the order of the first steps matters.

The day after a storm

• Look in daylight. Stand at a corner and look along each panel, not straight at it. A dent bends the reflection of a straight line.
• Tell your insurer promptly. Standard policy language asks for prompt notice of how, when and where the loss happened. The Kansas Insurance Department tells drivers to notify their agent or company as soon as possible.
• Let them look before the repair. The standard policy lets the insurer inspect and appraise the damage before it is repaired.
• Get the full count. A first estimate written outside, in flat light, often comes in low. When it does, the shop writes the supplement on the same claim.

The full sequence is on the hail claim process page, and the Kansas City hail storm page covers the first days after a metro storm.

If this year's storms already found your car, you do not have to wait for next spring. Read what to do if you took the insurance check and never fixed the car, then book the scan.

Get the scan before the next storm

A free 3D scan at our Leavenworth shop takes about 10 minutes and documents every panel, with dent counts, sizes and depths. If the car already carries dents, a scan in March records them before the season adds more. After a storm, it gives you the full number before the claim is written. A typical paintless repair takes 5-7 days, and your insurer can be billed directly.