• Several hot spots with elevated hail frequency can be identified regionally or locally. Most of the maxima are found downstream of low mountain ranges (e.g., the Black Forest, Taunus, Westerwald, Bergisches Land, or the Harz Mountains), which can presumably be traced back to convergence zones evolving during a flow around regime. Similar results for SW Germany obtained by Kunz and Puskeiler (2010) and Kunz and Kugel (2015)) despite different methods and different periods considered (11- and 15-years) are further indications of the reliability of the hail hot spots found downstream of the mountains (Black Forest) and the systematic nature of these hot spots.