Hail could return

Storms pounded Front Range last year and might be coming soon

Front Range residents are still waiting for spring’s heavy, wet snows to arrive, but if the usually predictable storms don’t hurry, the conversation soon will shift to hail and tornado season.

In the past week hailstorms have pelted Texas, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee, and Colorado’s turn is coming, said Carrie Bonney, a spokeswoman for Farmers Insurance.

Half of all auto insurance claims and 43 percent of home insurance claims made between March and May in Colorado the past four years by Farmers’ customers were the result of hail, Bonney said.

Farmers found that Colorado, which ranks 21st for population, ranked sixth for the number of spring auto claims due to hail damage and 11th for the number of home damage claims. Given that Colorado’s most severe storms can strike between June and October, it probably would have ranked higher on the damage list had the insurer used a longer reporting window.

Not all Colorado counties were severely affected; 29 of the state’s 64 counties didn’t experience a severe hailstorm last year (defined as a storm spitting stones greater than 1 inch in diameter), according to the CoreLogic 2016 Natural Hazard Risk Index.

Thirteen counties reported hail that was from 1 to 1.5 inches in diameter, or stones the size of pingpong balls. Nine counties reported hail that was from 1.5 to 2 inches in diameter, or the size of a hen’s egg. Three had hail stones that were maximum 2 to 2.5 inches in diameter, or the size of tennis balls. Ten counties had storms with hail that was from 2.5 to 3 inches in diameter, the equivalent of being pelted with tea cups.

Nearly $353 million in insurance claims were filed by 84,500 homeowners and drivers following a July hailstorm in El Paso County, according to the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association.

Yuma County was Colorado’s most bruised and battered last year. It recorded 24 days of severe hail and a Sept. 4 storm that produced 3-inch stones. El Paso County had 22 days with severe hail, and Weld County had 21 days with severe hail, according to CoreLogic.

In the metro area, Arapahoe County had 15 days of severe hail, including a storm that produced 2.9inch stones on June 13. Adams County had 13 days with severe storms and maximum hail stones of 2.6 inches recorded on June 13. Douglas County had 16 days with severe hail, and stones up to 2.4 inches in diameter on July 1, according to CoreLogic.

Texas, Kansas, Illinois, Mississippi and Alabama were the top states for tornadoes last year, with 60 or more reported. Colorado, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Minnesota, Illinois and Florida reported 40 to 60 tornadoes, the company said.

Texas aside, last year was about average for hailstorms and below average for the number of tornadoes, according to CoreLogic. But a shift to a La Niña weather pattern is expected to produce more severe storms this spring across the Southwest.