Global estimates of damaging hail hazard

A single hailstorm can cause losses in the billion-dollar range if it occurs over a densely populated area. Property losses from hailstorms are rising with time mainly due to a combination of increases in population density and wealth. Report based observational hail data alone are highly inhomogeneous and unable to discriminate between climate and societal changes. Here we present a statistical approach that estimates hail hazard from largescale environmental conditions. Using daily ERA-Interim reanalysis data and large hail observations (diameter larger than 2.5 cm) from the conterminous United States (CONUS) we show that four predictors enable skillful discrimination of large hail frequencies on a regional scale.