How Many Hailstorms Does Tulsa Actually Get?

More than almost anyone expects. An extreme weather report pulled for a single Tulsa address recorded 39 extreme weather events in three years, 24 of them hail, and the most common stone size was three quarter inch. Statewide, NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center data put Oklahoma third in the country in 2025 with 369 hail events of an inch or larger. Arrowhead Roofing has replaced roofs through every one of those seasons since 1987, and this is the number that explains why lifespan tables travel badly to northeast Oklahoma.

Note: the three year figures below come from a commercial weather report for one specific Tulsa property, derived from National Weather Service Doppler radar, in situ reports and NOAA data. They describe that address. Your own address will differ, and a report can be pulled for it.

Here is the whole three year record for that address.

The Short Answer

Roughly eight hail events a year at that address, and the shape of them matters more than the count.

Four events in three years were the kind that makes the news. The other twenty were three quarter inch and half inch hail, which almost never totals a roof on its own.

And zero damaging tornadoes. That surprises people, and it is worth sitting with. Oklahoma’s reputation is built on tornadoes. Its roofs are worn out by hail.

What the Longer Record Says

The three year figure is one address over a short window, so it is worth putting next to something broader.

National Weather Service records for the Tulsa area over a long period of record show hail events concentrated heavily in April and May, which matches what anybody who has lived here would tell you. That climatology comes from a dataset ending in the late 1990s, so it describes the historical pattern rather than the current rate, and we would rather say so than present it as a current figure.

For the current rate, the better number is the state one. In 2025 Oklahoma recorded 369 hail events of an inch or larger, third in the country behind Texas and Kansas, on NOAA Storm Prediction Center data compiled by the Insurance Information Institute.

Why Small Hail Is the Story

Because twenty small events do more cumulative harm than the count suggests, and that is now measured rather than asserted.

Researchers at the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety published a peer-reviewed study in September 2025 on sub-severe hail, testing ice spheres at 0.7 and 1 inch. Weathered shingles that had taken repeated sub-severe impacts were up to ten times more susceptible to later damage, showed a 108 percent increase in granule loss when subsequently struck by large hail, and lost cumulative granule cover comparable to or greater than a single two inch hailstone impact.

Put that next to twenty small events in three years and the local picture resolves. Roofs here are rarely destroyed by one storm. They are subtracted from, repeatedly, and then finished by a storm a newer roof would have survived.

What Else Gets Hit

The roof is the expensive part and it is not the only part, and the rest of the property is often how you find out a storm reached you at all.

Gutters and downspouts dent. Siding dimples. Window screens tear. Air conditioner fins flatten. Cars, mailboxes, sheds and fences all take the same storm, and unlike a twenty year old roof, none of them has been weathering long enough for anyone to call the marks wear and tear.

Glass is the clearest evidence of all, and the least ambiguous.

How to Find Out About Your Own Address

Storms are local in a way that surprises people. A swath can cross one side of a neighbourhood and miss the other, so a county wide statement tells you very little about a specific roof.

A weather verification report for a single address is pulled from radar and reporting data and lists what crossed that property and when. We order one on every job, before anyone goes out, alongside the aerial measurement report, and we go through it with the homeowner at the visit.

It is worth knowing these reports exist, because the natural question after reading this page is “what has actually hit my house”, and that has an answer rather than a guess.

What Changes the Answer

Three things make the same storm season land differently on two roofs a mile apart.

Where the swath went

Hail falls in bands. Two houses in the same postcode can have entirely different three year records, which is why an address level report beats a regional impression.

How old the roof already was

An older, more brittle shingle fractures at smaller stone sizes. The same season is a different event on a two year old roof and a twenty year old one.

Which direction the slopes face

Wind driven hail arrives at an angle, so it marks the faces turned into it. A house whose main slopes face away from the prevailing storm track has a quieter history than its neighbour.

Related Questions

Can the small stuff really damage a roof?

Not usually in one hit, and measurably over many. Can 3/4-inch hail damage a roof? covers the impact testing and the 2025 cumulative research in full.

So how long does a roof actually last here?

Less than the national tables suggest, and the reason is on this page. How long does a roof last? covers the material ranges and what northeast Oklahoma does to them.

How would I know if a storm damaged mine?

Circular bruises with a fracture in the mat, plus marks on the soft metals. What does hail damage look like on a roof? covers what to look for and what gets mistaken for it.

See Also

The two answers this one sits underneath are how long a roof lasts here, and what the most common local hail size actually does.