The 14th didn't put up big numbers — 22 reports — but it didn't need to. Better than half were hail, and the biggest was a genuine event: a 2.75-inch stone at Hermon, up in the North Country of New York. That's baseball ice, and it doesn't fall in New York often.
It wasn't a one-off, either. St. Lawrence County caught a tight cluster — a pair of 2-inch stones at De Kalb and De Peyster on either side of Hermon, with smaller hail around Horseshoe Lake. Five hail reports in one corner of one county, all of it big enough to bruise a roof. Down through New Hampshire's White Mountains the same setup dropped four more, topping out at 1.5 inches around Bethlehem and North Conway.
Two-inch-plus hail is past the stage where a roof shrugs it off. It cracks shingle mats and drives granules loose in a spray, and the ugly part is what it doesn't show: the fracture sits quiet under a dry ceiling for months, then lets go with the fall rains. A homeowner in Hermon or De Peyster who rakes the yard and calls it a day is exactly the one who finds a leak in October and can't prove what caused it. Get dated photos and a real look up top now, while the storm that did it is still the obvious answer.
Out west, Montana ran the day's other story, and a rougher one. Central Montana — Grass Range, Winnett, Lewistown — took a supercell that put down an 86 mph gust and 2.5-inch hail at Hobson in the same swing. That's a combo that works a roof from both directions at once: the gust pries the edges and seams, the ice hammers the flat.
For crews, this is a two-target day and both are worth the drive: the St. Lawrence County hail in northern New York is concentrated and provable, and central Montana around Hobson is fresh wind-and-hail work. Neither corner is where the season's headlines have been, which means less competition knocking. The running tally of where the big stones keep landing is on the Top States for Hail board. The full state list sits below — look up your county and see if the 14th put anything over your head.