Local storm report
Hail and wind · Cloudbreak team · Updated October 29, 2026 · 8 sources
How it works
Reports come in from storm spotters, emergency managers, the public, the media and weather stations. The local forecast office collects them and sends each one out as an LSR, as close to real time as it can. Each LSR says what happened, where and when, how big or strong it was, and who reported it.
Under NWS Instruction 10-517, forecast offices issue LSRs for tornadoes, waterspouts, large hail, thunderstorm and marine wind gusts and flash floods, and should issue them for hail 0.75 inch or larger. Offices should send a summary list during or after an outbreak. Events reported more than seven days late go into monthly Storm Data instead.2
Each report gives the event type, date and time, location (state, county, distance and direction from a known place, latitude and longitude), source, magnitude, damage, deaths, injuries and up to 500 characters of remarks. Hail size and wind gusts are marked M for measured, E for estimated or U for unknown. The header reads "PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT." New information goes out as a new LSR, not an amendment.2
SPC automatically decodes LSRs into national hourly and daily lists, each daily page covering 1200 UTC to 1159 UTC the next day. Since March 8, 2011, SPC also posts unfiltered lists; its filtered lists drop same-county reports less than 10 miles and 15 minutes apart for hail and wind, keeping the largest.2,3
Example
On June 13, 2012, severe storms hit Dallas, Collin and Fannin counties, Texas, with hail the size of baseballs (2.75 inches), oranges (3 inches) and softballs (4.25 inches). SPC's page for that date lists Fort Worth (FWD) LSRs such as these:4,5,3
| Time (UTC) | Location | Size as listed (hundredths of an inch) | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2323 | University Park, Dallas County | 200 | Damage at NorthPark Center due to hail. Skylights were broken. |
| 0005 | Irving, Dallas County | 275 | Tennis ball to baseball size hail on Esters Road in Irving. Lasted about 5 minutes. |
| 0036 | 5 E Dallas, Dallas County | 275 | Broken car windows and heavy tree damage in Lakewood. |
| 0052 | Grand Prairie, Dallas County | 275 | Intersection of I-20 and Robinson Rd. Windshields broken. |
| 0119 | Leonard, Fannin County | 425 | Softball hail and trees/shrubs down in Leonard. |
| 0134 | Parker, Collin County | 300 | Hail to 3.25 inches in Parker. |
Times after 0000 UTC fall early on June 14 UTC but stay on the June 13 page, which runs 1200 to 1159 UTC. The Parker line lists 300 in the size field but 3.25 inches in its remark. SPC marks every report preliminary; the final record is in the NCEI Storm Events Database.3,5
Where you'll see it
- NWS text products from each forecast office, sent to SPC, river forecast centers, nearby offices, emergency managers, media and the public.2
- SPC's daily Storm Reports pages, with maps and regular or raw CSV files; the raw files keep every decoded LSR except exact duplicates.3,5
- Monthly Storm Data and the NCEI Storm Events Database, which hold the final, verified events.2,6
Known limits
- SPC's lists are preliminary and likely miss reports. SPC's Storm Reports page also misses events with no LSR or one arriving over 10 days late, and storm surveys may be needed to confirm a tornado or its EF rating.3
- Reports come from where people are. Night storms and rural tracks can yield fewer reports, and offices differ in how hard they seek them.7
- In a 2011 to 2015 field study of 73 severe hailstorms, Storm Data averaged 3 hail reports per storm against 66 field measurements, and 32% of storms had none.7
- Most hail sizes are compared to coins or sports balls rather than measured, and melting on the ground adds error.7
- From 2003 to 2009, measured severe gusts at ASOS, AWOS and Oklahoma Mesonet stations equaled only about 3% of the annual wind reports in the severe report database.8
Questions
- What is an LSR in weather?
- A local storm report: a National Weather Service product listing reports of severe or significant weather in an office's area, such as hail size, wind gusts, tornadoes or flooding, with time, place and source.
- What is the difference between a local storm report and Storm Data?
- An LSR is preliminary and goes out as close to real time as possible. Storm Data is the final record: offices have 60 days after month end to submit it, and NCEI posts it 75 to 90 days after.2,6
- Where can I find local storm reports for a past date?
- SPC posts a daily Storm Reports page built from LSRs, covering 1200 UTC to 1159 UTC the next day. NCEI's Storm Events Database holds the final, official records.3
Cloudbreak
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Sources
Written by the Cloudbreak team. Numbers, dates and rules cite the published sources below.
- 1. NOAA National Weather Service: NWS Glossary: LSR
- 2. NOAA National Weather Service: NWS Instruction 10-517: Multi-Purpose Weather Products Specification (August 1, 2022, administrative update 2025)
- 3. NOAA Storm Prediction Center: SPC Frequently Asked Questions
- 4. NOAA National Weather Service, Fort Worth: June 13th 2012 Severe Storms
- 5. NOAA Storm Prediction Center: Storm Prediction Center 20120613's Storm Reports
- 6. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information: Storm Events Database FAQ
- 7. American Meteorological Society, via NOAA Central Library: High-Resolution Hail Observations: Implications for NWS Warning Operations (Blair and others, Weather and Forecasting, 2017)
- 8. NOAA Storm Prediction Center: Measured Severe Wind Gust Climatology of Thunderstorms for the Contiguous United States, 2003 to 2009 (Smith and others)