Hail fell in Montgomery County on 65 days from 1996 through 2025, and 33 of them were in June or July

NOAA's Storm Events Database lists hail in Montgomery County on 65 days from 1996 through 2025, and 33 of those days were in June or July. May through August held 55 of the 65. The database is kept by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), which describes it as the National Weather Service's record of weather strong enough to cause deaths, injuries, significant property damage or disruption to commerce. On October 9, 2026 its data ran through June 2026.

The counts below are this site's tally of NCEI's yearly files, filtered to Montgomery County. A hail day or a wind day is a date with at least one report of that kind somewhere in the county, which runs from Bala Cynwyd and Cheltenham to Pottstown.

Wind came in every month, and 102 of 207 wind days fell in June or July

Thunderstorm wind follows the same calendar. The database lists 516 thunderstorm wind reports in the county on 207 days from 1996 through 2025, and 102 of those days were in June or July. No hail was reported in September, December, January or February in those 30 years. Wind reports came in every month, including 8 days each in September and November.

Wind days peaked at 17 in 2021, hail days at 7 in 2009

The busiest year for hail was 2009, with 7 hail days. Wind days peaked at 17 in 2021 and 15 in 2019.

The number of wind reports rose faster than the number of days: 61 reports in 2019, 86 in 2020 and 63 in 2021, against no more than 20 a year before 2019. More reports for each storm can come from more people reporting damage as well as from stronger storms, so the count of days is the steadier measure.

59 of 116 hail reports were 1 inch across or larger

Of the 116 hail reports from 1996 through 2025, 59 were 1 inch across or larger. One inch, the size of a quarter, is where the National Weather Service considers a thunderstorm severe. The Weather Service raised that threshold from 3/4 inch on January 5, 2010, and the American Meteorological Society reported at the time that the agency cited research showing significant damage does not occur from hail smaller than an inch.

The largest hail in the county's record since 1996 was 1.75 inches, the size of a golf ball, in 8 reports. The most recent was a trained spotter's report from King of Prussia on June 6, 2023.

Eleven hail reports named a place near Conshohocken

The database names each report by the nearest place in the Weather Service's location list. Eleven hail reports from 1996 through 2025 name a place in or next to the townships around Conshohocken. Conshohocken itself appears twice in the wind reports, with gusts estimated at 50 knots, about 58 mph, on July 8, 2021 and July 8, 2025.

The first half of 2026 brought 21 wind reports on 4 days and no hail

The 21 wind reports from January through June 2026 fell on March 16, May 20, June 6 and June 22. Most named places in the upper end of the county, around Pottstown, Limerick and Collegeville. The May 20 reports carry the highest estimate of the year so far, 55 knots, about 63 mph.

1. March 16, 2026

   58 mph, highest estimated gust

   10 wind reports

   Collegeville, Creamery, Eagleville, Green Lane, Layfield, Limerick Center, Mainland, Pottstown, Zeiglersville

2. May 20, 2026

   63 mph, highest estimated gust

   6 wind reports

   Colmar, Layfield, Limerick Center, Pennsburg, Pottstown

3. June 6, 2026

   58 mph, highest estimated gust

   2 wind reports

   Fagleysville, Pottstown

4. June 22, 2026

   58 mph, highest estimated gust

   3 wind reports

   Betzwood, Cheltenham, Miquon

Gusts are Weather Service estimates, converted from knots. The 2026 file used here is dated September 18, 2026, and its figures can change. Source: NCEI Storm Events Database.

On June 22 the reports moved closer: uprooted trees and snapped branches at Betzwood, a tree down on westbound I-76 near Miquon, and trees down around Tookany Creek Park in Cheltenham.

From 1996 through 2025 the county averaged about 1.2 hail days in the first half of the year, and 10 of those 30 years had none.

The strongest of 5 tornadoes, an EF2, ran 8.28 miles

The database lists 5 tornadoes in the county from 1996 through 2025. The strongest, an EF2 on September 1, 2021, ran 8.28 miles from near Flourtown through Fort Washington and Upper Dublin to NAS Willow Grove, the end point named in the record. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates a tornado by its damage, and NCEI's format notes put EF2 winds at 113 to 157 mph.

The Weather Service narrative describes homes near Stuart Creek in Upper Dublin with partial to near total loss of their roofing, and the record carries a property damage estimate of $5 million.

Every year from 1996 to 2025