August opened about as quietly as a summer day gets — nine severe reports in the whole country. Almost all of them belonged to New Mexico, where the monsoon did its usual afternoon work over the high country: a small hail cluster with 1.5-inch stones at Mora and Cobre, and a 72 mph gust down at San Antonio.
The only other note was on the opposite corner of the map — two quick tornadoes at Folly Beach, South Carolina, the coastal, over-water kind that spin up off a sea breeze and rarely last long enough to do much.
Nothing here rises to a roof emergency. If you caught that New Mexico hail, an inch-and-a-half stone is still worth a look up top — but a nine-report day is just the atmosphere taking a breath. For where July's real damage piled up, the July recap has the whole month, and the season's biggest stones stay on the Top States for Hail board.