Crop-Hail Damage in the Midwest Corn Belt

Abstract

Crop-hail damage in the ten Midwest corn belt states is examined during the period 1957?81. Estimates of crop losses due to hail are made from hail insurance data for each state and each significant crop in the region. The crop-hail losses are adjusted to reflect 1981 dollar values and 1977?81 cropping patterns. This information is summarized by long-term averages as well as by year, month, five-day and daily periods. It is found that crop-hail1 losses in the Midwest are approximately 60% greater than previously reported, with the greatest increase, 215%, in Michigan. A synoptic climatology based upon the 100 most damaging crop-hail days in the Midwest for the 1957?72 period is presented. Major hail outbreaks, though relatively few in number, are found to account for a large percentage of the total seasonal crop-hail losses. These outbreaks also are shown to affect large geographic areas over short time spans. Typically with these storms, 100 counties and eight states in the Midwest can suffer crop-hail damage on a single day, thus presenting a serious ?peak load? problem for hail suppression operations. Throughout this study an emphasis is placed upon the interpretation and use of crop-hail data for application in the design and evaluation of hail suppression projects.