1. The optimum search radius can vary depending on the particulars of the hail-fall search location. In smaller cities, shorter radii (3 or 6 miles) normally would encompass the area for all reports of hail-fall for the city. In rural areas or large cities, however, longer radii (6 or 10 miles) may be necessary to find hail-fall reports in cities near the search center. A 3, 6, and 10 mile radius report is generated for each e-Hail™ report.

2. The default of reported hail sizes is ¾-inch diameter or larger. This will provide all reports found in the database. If desired, you may limit the reports to only those that are larger than or equal to a certain size. For instance, if a location showed evidence of 1.5-inch diameter hail, a search could be limited to reports of 1.5-inch and greater hail-fall.

3. In a rural area with a large zip code, if the location of interest is not near a population center, it would be best to determine the latitude/longitude coordinates and enter that as the search center. The zip code location in the search engine is based on a population centroid of the zip code from a third-party database.

4. Hail-fall reports are recorded at points and do not necessarily represent either the physical area of hail fall or the severity of the storm.

5. Hailstone sizes reported in the hail-fall records have not been confirmed independently. It is known that hailstone sizes are overestimated regularly. For example, people often report "golf-ball-sized" hail, recorded as 1.75 inches, when actual hailstones were significantly smaller. Conversely, an accurate report of 0.75-inch hail could be made in one area of hail fall while larger size hail could have fallen over another area from the same hailstorm and not been reported. Hailstone sizes, shapes, hardnesses, and quantities can vary within a hailstorm path.

6. A hail-fall record does not guarantee that hail of a particular size occurred at the selected location, and conversely, the lack of a hail record on a date does not preclude hail from having fallen at the selected location. Nonetheless, the data base searched by e-Hail™ is the most comprehensive national hail database available.