It was first roughly mapped from air photos taken by U.S. Navy Operation Highjump, 1946–47, and included in a 1957 survey of the Swain Islands by Wilkes Station personnel under Carl R. Eklund.

It was named by Eklund for Radioman Kenneth J. Hailstorm, U.S. Navy, a Naval support force member of the 1957 wintering party at Wilkes Station during the International Geophysical Year.

[1] This article incorporates public domain material from "Hailstorm Island".

United States Geological Survey.

This Wilkes Land location article is a stub.