Storm hazard · NOAA Storm Events Database

Sleet in the United States

Q: Which states record the most sleet events?

Mississippi records the most sleet events of any state, and the five most-affected states together account for 71% of all 277 recorded events nationwide.

Q: How much damage do sleet events cause?

Sleet events have caused an estimated $4.6M in combined property and crop damage from 2015 to 2025: $4.6M in property damage and $0 in crop damage.

Q: What year had the most sleet events?

The year with the most recorded sleet events was 2015, with 95 events resulting in 0 fatalities and $33.0K in property damage.

Q: How dangerous are sleet events?

PlainHazard places sleet in its low human-toll band, based on 2 fatalities and 9 injuries in NOAA's 2015-2025 record across 15 states. This is a descriptive grouping for comparing cumulative records, not an official NOAA safety rating or a forecast for any individual event.

Q: Which states have the fewest sleet events?

The states with the fewest sleet events include Idaho (3 events), Kansas (1 events), Nebraska (1 events).

National statistics for sleet events from the NOAA Storm Events Database (2015-2025): how often they occur, where they hit hardest, and the human and property toll.

Compiled by PlainHazard, Independent hazard-data publisher · August 25, 2026

277
Events recorded: 2
Fatalities: $4.6M
Property damage: 15
States affected

The verdict

NOAA ranks sleet #41 of 54 by event count, yet its combined-damage rank is higher at #35. The <0.1% event share therefore understates its relative loss position in the 2015-2025 catalog.

#41 of 54
NOAA hazard types, by event count: <0.1%
share of all NOAA storm events, 2015-2025: 277
sleet events, 15 states affected

Ranking reflects NOAA Storm Events Database event counts, not fatalities, injuries, or damage severity; a rare hazard type can still be individually catastrophic.

How dangerous are Sleet events in the U.S.?

The loss ranking is the stronger warning against reading frequency alone. Sleet is #41 of 54 by event count but rises to #35 for combined property and crop damage. Its losses make up <0.1% of the catalog total, while its fatalities rank #41 and represent <0.1% of recorded deaths. Fewer events can still produce an outsized financial record.

The annual record is uneven rather than steadily rising or falling. The peak year on record was 2015, logging 95 events and $33.0K in property damage in a single calendar year. The most recent year in the dataset is 2025 with 13 events recorded. Across the full 11-year window, annual event counts reflect natural year-to-year noise given how infrequently this hazard is recorded at all.

Per event, this hazard is far more dangerous than its frequency suggests. It ranks #41 by how often it is recorded among the 44 hazard types with at least 100 events, but #28 by fatalities per event, at 7.2 deaths per 1,000 recorded events. Recorded damage averages $16.6K per event. A reader scanning total counts would underestimate the risk of encountering one.

Where this hazard actually strikes varies sharply by region. The three states absorbing the largest share of events are Mississippi (89 events, 0 fatalities), Texas (36 events, 2 fatalities), Illinois (26 events, 0 fatalities), a pattern driven more by climatology than by any one state's vulnerability. At the other end, states such as Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska report far fewer events, often reflecting hazard climatology rather than underreporting.

The cumulative NOAA record has a smaller reported human toll than most hazard types on this measure: 2 fatalities and 9 injuries among 277 events. PlainHazard's low human-toll band means fewer than five recorded fatalities during 2015-2025. It does not mean that an individual event is harmless, or that unrecorded impacts are zero.

NOAA entries are reports filed by local National Weather Service offices. Counts therefore reflect both observed weather and reporting practice; they do not measure unreported events, household exposure, or the probability of a future event at one address.

Sleet by State

Download all 31 state-year rows as CSV . Source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.

This is one of the most geographically concentrated hazards in the NOAA catalog: the five most-affected states absorb 71% of all 277 recorded events.

#	State	Events	Fatalities	Injuries	Property Damage
1	MississippiMS	89	0	0	$3.8M
2	TexasTX	36	2	6	$105.0K
3	IllinoisIL	26	0	0	$0
4	MissouriMO	24	0	0	$0
5	MichiganMI	23	0	0	$0
6	LouisianaLA	22	0	0	$650.0K
7	MaineME	20	0	0	$0
8	AlabamaAL	11	0	0	$0
9	KentuckyKY	10	0	0	$0
10	ArkansasAR	5	0	0	$0
11	MinnesotaMN	3	0	0	$0
12	OklahomaOK	3	0	0	$0
13	IdahoID	3	0	3	$10.0K
14	KansasKS	1	0	0	$0
15	NebraskaNE	1	0	0	$0

Sleet by Year

Recorded sleet events averaged 29 per year across 2015-2019 versus 22 per year across 2020-2025: a 24% lower recorded rate in the later window. Reporting intensity varies by forecast office, so window-to-window comparisons describe the record, not a verified physical trend.

Year	Events	Fatalities	Injuries	Property Damage
2025	13	0	0	$0
2024	6	0	0	$0
2023	8	0	0	$0
2022	42	1	6	$0
2021	55	0	0	$2.0M
2020	7	0	0	$0
2019	1	0	3	$10.0K
2018	8	1	0	$135.0K
2017	39	0	0	$2.4M
2016	3	0	0	$0
2015	95	0	0	$33.0K

Compare across hazard types

Nationwide hazards with similar NOAA volume & modeled loss

Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Sleet: nearest NOAA Storm Events types by recorded event count and nearest FEMA National Risk Index hazards by national expected annual loss (when modeled). Similarity is catalog-level only, not a forecast that the next event will match a peer type.

Similar NOAA event volume

Nearest hazard types by 2015-2025 Storm Events count. Sleet: 277 events across 15 states.

4 peers

What this record shows for Sleet

Sleet ranks #41 of 54 NOAA hazard types by event count; Mississippi leads the geography table with 89 events, and 2015 is the peak year at 95 events.

Mississippi carries the largest share of recorded sleet events in this catalog. Mississippi profile
Compare how often this hazard appears against other NOAA event types nationally. All hazards
Sleet events concentrate unevenly - the five most-affected states already account for a large share of the national sleet record in this extract. Hazard risk by region

NOAA Storm Events counts reflect filed reports, not a forecast or household-level probability. For current threats follow the National Weather Service and local officials; in an emergency call 911.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which states record the most sleet events?

Mississippi records the most sleet events of any state, and the five most-affected states together account for 71% of all 277 recorded events nationwide.

How much damage do sleet events cause?

Sleet events have caused an estimated $4.6M in combined property and crop damage from 2015 to 2025: $4.6M in property damage and $0 in crop damage.

What year had the most sleet events?

The year with the most recorded sleet events was 2015, with 95 events resulting in 0 fatalities and $33.0K in property damage.

How dangerous are sleet events?

PlainHazard places sleet in its low human-toll band, based on 2 fatalities and 9 injuries in NOAA's 2015-2025 record across 15 states. This is a descriptive grouping for comparing cumulative records, not an official NOAA safety rating or a forecast for any individual event.

Which states have the fewest sleet events?

The states with the fewest sleet events include Idaho (3 events), Kansas (1 events), Nebraska (1 events).

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database (2015-2025) For informational purposes only

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

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Every figure on PlainHazard is rendered directly from FEMA federal disaster data, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or national statistics report, the data & editorial changelog, or report a data error.