How often does Harris County get hail, and does that include Tomball, Katy, or Jersey Village specifically?

NOAA's Storm Events Database recorded 143 hail events across Harris County from 2016 through 2025 — about 14 a year, with 119 at or above the 1.00-inch severe threshold. That's a county-wide figure, not a city-by-city breakdown; no city-specific hail record exists yet for Tomball, Katy, or Jersey Village specifically.

Did the May 2024 derecho hit the whole NW Houston region, or just one town?

The derecho produced region-wide gusts estimated over 100 mph, two tornadoes, flash flooding, and multi-day outages for hundreds of thousands, with nine fatalities in Houston. The specific, point-level record — an EF-1 tornado and a roughly 104 mph gust — was logged in Cypress; no equivalent point record exists yet for other NW Houston towns.

Can a roofing contractor waive my insurance deductible in Texas?

No. Texas law makes it illegal for a contractor to waive, rebate, or otherwise absorb a customer's insurance deductible, punishable by up to a $2,000 fine and up to six months in jail, per Texas Department of Insurance guidance. This statewide rule applies the same way anywhere in the NW Houston region.

NW Houston Roofing Guide: Harris County Storm Data and Texas Insurance Rules for the Region

This page is a county- and state-level overview of storm risk and insurance rules for the wider NW Houston region — Tomball, Katy, Jersey Village, and the rest of Harris County — built entirely from NOAA's Harris County hail and wind data and statewide Texas Department of Insurance guidance, never from city-specific claims the research doesn't support. Where genuine city-level depth exists today, it's on the Cypress page, not here.

This page is a county- and state-level overview for the wider NW Houston region — including Tomball, Katy, and Jersey Village — built entirely from Harris County storm data and statewide Texas insurance rules, not from city-specific claims the underlying research doesn’t support. Where a fact is genuinely city-specific, that’s noted, and today that only applies to Cypress, the one community in this region with its own deep, sourced page. Every figure below links back to a named primary source; see the Local Facts Data page for the full dataset.

How often does Harris County get hail, and how severe is it?

Harris County recorded 143 hail events from 2016 through 2025 — about 14 a year — with 119 reaching or exceeding the 1.00-inch severe-hail threshold, per NOAA’s Storm Events Database. The largest hailstone recorded countywide from 2020 through 2025 measured 2.00 inches, reported April 5, 2023. These are county-wide figures, not a per-city breakdown.

Year-to-year counts swing widely — zero recorded hail events in 2022, versus 28 in both 2023 and 2024 — and the county also logged 176 thunderstorm-wind events over the same 2016–2025 span. These are individual point reports, not distinct storm days, so they shouldn’t be read as a “hail days per year” figure: a single storm system can generate several separate hail reports across the county in one pass. None of this is broken out by city; it describes Harris County as a whole, which includes Cypress, Tomball, Katy, Jersey Village, and every other community inside the county line. See Storm & Hail Damage for what these numbers mean for a homeowner, and how bad hail gets in Cypress and Harris County for the full breakdown of this dataset.

Is the region’s severe weather seasonal, or does it happen year-round?

Severe thunderstorms are most common in the spring across southeast Texas, according to the National Weather Service’s Houston/Galveston office, but they can occur at any time of year. The region sees roughly 50 to 60 thunderstorm days annually, with about a third of those turning severe.

That “any time of year” caveat matters more than the spring emphasis: Harris County’s own per-year hail counts — zero events in 2022, 28 in 2023, 28 again in 2024 — show no dependable calendar window a homeowner in Tomball, Katy, Jersey Village, or anywhere else in the region can plan around instead of staying prepared year-round. See Roof Inspection for how a periodic check fits into that reality.

Did a major storm actually hit the region recently?

Yes. The derecho that moved through the Houston area on May 16, 2024 produced wind gusts estimated to have reached over 100 mph, spawned two tornadoes, caused widespread flash flooding, and left hundreds of thousands of households without power for multiple days, with nine fatalities in Houston, per the National Weather Service.

That’s a description of the regional event as a whole, not a city-by-city record — the checkable, point-level detail for this storm belongs to Cypress specifically, where NOAA logged an EF-1 tornado and an estimated 90-knot (about 104 mph) wind gust as separate entries in the Storm Events Database. Tomball, Katy, and Jersey Village sit inside the same regional impact described above, but no equivalent point-level record for those communities exists in this dataset yet. For the Cypress-specific numbers, see the Cypress roofing guide; for what a storm like this means for traveling repair crews, see how to spot a storm-chaser roofing scam.

What does “NW Houston region” mean on this site, and where’s the city-specific data?

This page names Tomball, Katy, and Jersey Village as communities inside the NW Houston region, but attaches no city-specific storm record, permit rule, or roofing statistic to them — the underlying research doesn’t support one yet. Every number above is a Harris County or statewide figure, labeled as such rather than narrowed to sound local.

The site publishes city-level depth only where a verified local fact set actually exists, and today that’s Cypress — the community directly hit by the May 2024 derecho’s EF-1 tornado and highest recorded wind gust in this dataset. As research turns up real, checkable data for Tomball, Katy, Jersey Village, or other NW Houston communities, it will be published the same way: named, dated, and sourced, never estimated.

What should a homeowner anywhere in the region do after storm damage?

Report the damage to your insurer as soon as possible, photograph and video everything before cleanup, and don’t discard anything until the adjuster says it’s fine, per Texas Department of Insurance guidance that applies statewide — not just in Harris County. Make only temporary repairs, keep a repair list and receipts, and be present for the adjuster’s visit.

Texas Insurance Code chapter 542 sets the insurer’s own response clock once a claim is filed: acknowledgment and any request for more information by the 15th day after notice, an accept-or-reject decision within 15 business days of receiving everything requested, and payment within 5 business days of that acceptance — every deadline extends by 15 days when a weather catastrophe is involved. Separately, chapter 4102 bars a roofing contractor from acting as your insurance adjuster on a claim it’s also servicing, and it’s illegal for any contractor to waive or absorb your deductible, a violation punishable by up to a $2,000 fine and six months in jail. See how to file a roof insurance claim in Texas for the full walkthrough, and Storm & Hail Damage for how these rules connect to the repair and replacement decisions covered in Roof Replacement and Roof Repair.

Is there a deadline to file a storm damage insurance claim in Texas?

There’s no universal filing deadline written into Texas law for a standard homeowners policy — each policy sets its own. Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) claims are the specific exception, carrying a one-year filing deadline from the date of loss and two years to provide notice and file suit, per Texas Department of Insurance guidance.

That distinction applies the same way whether the loss happened in Cypress, Tomball, Katy, Jersey Village, or anywhere else in Texas — it’s a function of the policy type, not the ZIP code. See is there a deadline to file a Texas storm damage claim for the full statute-backed breakdown.

Where does this data come from?

Every figure on this page — the Harris County hail and wind counts, the NWS seasonal pattern, the derecho’s regional impact, and the TDI/Insurance Code rules — comes from a named primary source, published in full with citations on the Local Facts Data page and its machine-readable JSON distribution.

Nothing here is a Tomball-, Katy-, or Jersey Village-specific estimate dressed up as data. Where the underlying research only supports a county- or state-level figure, that’s exactly how it’s labeled above, rather than narrowed to sound more local than it actually is.

Local Facts Cited on This Page

Harris County recorded 143 hail events from 2016 through 2025, an average of about 14 per year, with 119 of those events at or above the 1.00-inch severe-hail threshold.Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Storm Events Database
The largest hailstone recorded in Harris County from 2020 through 2025 was 2.00 inches, reported April 5, 2023 (event 1079922); the county also recorded 176 thunderstorm-wind events over the 2016-2025 period. These are point reports of individual storm events, not distinct storm days.Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Storm Events Database
Severe thunderstorms are most common in the spring in southeast Texas, per the National Weather Service's Houston/Galveston office, but can occur at any time of year; the region sees roughly 50 to 60 thunderstorm days a year, with about a third of those turning severe.Source: National Weather Service — Houston/Galveston Weather Forecast Office
The May 16, 2024 derecho that struck the Houston area produced wind gusts estimated to have reached over 100 mph, spawned two tornadoes, caused widespread flash flooding, and left hundreds of thousands of households without power for multiple days, with nine fatalities in Houston.Source: National Weather Service — Houston/Galveston Major Weather Events
The Texas Department of Insurance recommends reporting roof damage to your insurer as soon as possible, photographing and video-recording all damage before cleanup, not discarding anything until the adjuster approves, making only temporary repairs, keeping a repair list and receipts, being present for the adjuster visit, getting multiple contractor bids, and saving proof of the deductible payment.Source: Texas Department of Insurance — Help After a Storm
Texas Insurance Code chapter 542 sets specific insurer response deadlines after a claim is filed: acknowledge the claim and request needed items by the 15th day after notice (30 business days for surplus lines); accept or reject the claim within 15 business days of receiving everything requested (extendable to 30 days for suspected arson, or the 45th day with written reasons); then pay within 5 business days of notifying the policyholder of acceptance.Source: Texas Insurance Code, Chapter 542, Subchapter B (Prompt Payment of Claims)
Acting as a public insurance adjuster in Texas requires a license (Insurance Code Sec. 4102.051(a)); a contractor may not act as one or advertise adjusting services for a property it also services (Sec. 4102.163(a)); a licensed adjuster may not take on repair work for a claim they adjusted (Sec. 4102.158(a)(1)); and a contract signed with an unlicensed adjuster is voidable by the insured (Sec. 4102.207).Source: Texas Insurance Code, Chapter 4102 (Public Insurance Adjusters)
A contractor who waives, rebates, or otherwise absorbs a customer's insurance deductible is breaking Texas law, punishable by up to a $2,000 fine and up to six months in jail.Source: Texas Department of Insurance — State Law Cracks Down on Roof Scams
There is no universal filing deadline set in Texas law for a standard homeowners policy — each policy sets its own. Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) windstorm claims are a specific exception, with a one-year filing deadline from the date of loss and two years to provide notice and file suit.Source: Texas Department of Insurance — What If My Insurance Isn't Paying Enough?

Frequently Asked Questions

How often does Harris County get hail, and does that include Tomball, Katy, or Jersey Village specifically?: NOAA's Storm Events Database recorded 143 hail events across Harris County from 2016 through 2025 — about 14 a year, with 119 at or above the 1.00-inch severe threshold. That's a county-wide figure, not a city-by-city breakdown; no city-specific hail record exists yet for Tomball, Katy, or Jersey Village specifically.
Did the May 2024 derecho hit the whole NW Houston region, or just one town?: The derecho produced region-wide gusts estimated over 100 mph, two tornadoes, flash flooding, and multi-day outages for hundreds of thousands, with nine fatalities in Houston. The specific, point-level record — an EF-1 tornado and a roughly 104 mph gust — was logged in Cypress; no equivalent point record exists yet for other NW Houston towns.
Is there a deadline to file a storm-damage insurance claim in Texas?: No universal deadline exists in Texas law for a standard homeowners policy — each policy sets its own. Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) claims are the exception: a one-year filing deadline from the date of loss, plus two years to provide notice and file suit, per Texas Department of Insurance guidance.
Can a roofing contractor waive my insurance deductible in Texas?: No. Texas law makes it illegal for a contractor to waive, rebate, or otherwise absorb a customer's insurance deductible, punishable by up to a $2,000 fine and up to six months in jail, per Texas Department of Insurance guidance. This statewide rule applies the same way anywhere in the NW Houston region.