01/01/2026
everyone! Well, it’s time for a quick summary of 2025, from a point of view. Below is the summarized 2025 preliminary severe weather report map. These are not final reporting numbers and should not be treated as such. Very interesting numbers to talk about. Before we talk about the numbers, let’s talk about thresholds.
A storm is considered severe when it meets any of the following criteria. It can be any combination of the following or it can be a solo item on the list. If a storm goes severe warned, it’s either capable of producing any of these hazards or it is already producing the hazard(s) mentioned in the text.
Tornado - Though used with caution so not to scare the general public, most tornado warnings start as soon as there’s indications that a tornado could be possible. Rather from radar readings and/ or field reports.
1 inch hail - Until 2010, the threshold sat at 3/4 inch, (the size of a penny) but it was discovered that 1 inch (quarter size) was more destructive overall. You can read more about it here (https://blog.ametsoc.org/2010/01/08/nws-increases-severe-hail-threshold/)
58 mph (50 knots) or greater winds - This one is tricky because unless you have an anemometer or some kind of way to measure wind speeds, this one can be harder to judge. Though, this is where radar and field reports comes in to validate this threshold.
Now, let’s do some quick comparing of 2025 to 2024, since we have established our thresholds.
Tornado Reports: Down 233
1” Hail Reports: Down 1,956
Severe Wind Reports: Down 2,984
Total Severe Weather Reports: Down 5,173
Just judging off of this map compared to 2024, 2025 was a quieter year on the reporting side but just my opinion, many of the tornadoes in 2025 were much more photogenic. Some of the hail storms witnessed by others were more extreme. And the winds definitely seemed more fierce than any year before.
More than anything, now we wait for the official report from the Storm Prediction Center to see what they discover and determine when they release their complete annual summary article. Such a fascinating science to talk about!
