Tornado Rating unknown
2 N Cape Coral Lee County
“[Landspout] A possible landspout/tornado reported via social media video which showed debris circling in the air. (TBW)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
/ Storm field report · Lee
Hail in Cape Coral · May 17, 2026
NEXRAD logged 9 hail signatures up to 1"; the estimated-size surface reached 0.5" aloft. Open it on the live map to see the swath over the streets.
A tornado was also reported to the National Weather Service during this storm. The ground reports below show where it was filed.
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Peak hail signal 1" ≈ quarter · the largest NEXRAD radar signature
Homes in the hail footprint 9,521
Ground reports 1 1 tornado
Radar surfaces 2 NEXRAD + estimated size
Convective day · May 17, 2026 · noon–noon UTC
Severity
The 2nd most severe storm Cape Coral has seen in the last 12 months
Composite score · 4.0 / 10
Storm severity score
Overview's storm severity score weighs hailstone size, homes in the footprint, and ground-truth reports.
4.0 /10
- Peak hail signal
- 25 /100
- Homes exposed
- 80 /100
- Ground truth
- 33 /100
Largest radar-indicated size — a signal of damage potential, not confirmation.
How many homes sit inside the storm's footprint.
Independent storm reports filed with the NWS.
Evidence / storm surfaces
How Cape Coral saw the hail — from two instruments
May 17, 2026 · Cape Coral, FL
Two instruments, one storm: NEXRAD logs the point signatures it detected overhead, while the estimated-size surface models how large the hail aloft could have grown. Agreement between them is not guaranteed — the gaps are where the model ran ahead of, or behind, the detections.
NEXRAD radar signatures Surface resolved
Radar signature field NEXRAD's hail signatures for this storm: the spots the radar detected from above. A detection overhead is not the same thing as a confirmed stone below.
Max size
1"
Detections
9
Radar-estimated hail size Surface resolved
Estimated size field Radar-estimated maximum hail size across the swath, modeled from radar aloft. It reflects the biggest stone the storm could support, which may differ from what actually fell.
Max size
0.5"
The storm in context
Where May 17, 2026 sits in Cape Coral's hail record.
This was Cape Coral's 2nd recorded hail day, arriving 45 days after the Apr 2, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 2nd of the 11 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Cape Coral at 1" — the largest NEXRAD radar signature.
The May 17, 2026 convective day was bigger than Cape Coral: the same system put hail over 894 other tracked cities, 36 of them in Florida. Nearest: Fort Myers (7 miles southeast, up to 1.25"); Port Charlotte (25 miles north, up to 0.75"); Naples (35 miles southeast, up to 1.75").
These maps are stills. In the app this date is one of 11 Cape Coral storm dates on a live map — both surfaces, the reports, and a replay — and the same map is where you draw the swath. This page rebuilds nightly.
Ground reports
What people on the ground reported
1 report filed with the NWS
These are storm reports filed with the National Weather Service and released through the NOAA Storm Prediction Center — public-domain observations from spotters, the public, and NWS surveys. We quote each one exactly as filed.
Tornado reports
1 reportDamage-capable hail signal
What 1" hail means for Cape Coral roofs.
Quarter-size and larger hail can bruise asphalt mats, remove granules, and dent exposed soft metal. The mapped footprint identifies an inspection priority area — it does not identify which individual roofs, if any, sustained damage.
Radar reading · not confirmed damage
Roofing exposure
What this storm is worth to a roofer.
9,521 homes × $12,000 avg. claim
Potential roof exposure
$114M
Potential roof exposure — 9,521 homes × the ~$12,000 industry-average hail roof claim. Exposure, not confirmed damage.
- Illustrative jobs
- 48 jobs
- Illustrative work
- ~$720K
Close just 0.5% of the 9,521 homes in this footprint at the average $15,000 roof job. Illustrative math, not a projection — your results depend on your outreach and how the market responds.
Claim window
May 2028
Claims from this storm can typically be filed until around May 2028 — the window to reach these homeowners while it's still open. Deadlines vary by policy and state.
Names and phones for every home in the footprint: at most $1,999 on top of the $150 plan.
Cape Coral hail history
Other storms in Cape Coral.
11 recorded storm days in Cape Coral, FL
Estimated-size surface Storm date Cape Coral / FL
Aug 29, 2026
0.75" Estimated 0.75"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Cape Coral / FL
Aug 14, 2026
0.75" Estimated 0.75"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Cape Coral / FL
Aug 9, 2026
0.5" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Cape Coral / FL
Jul 14, 2026
0.75" Estimated 0.75"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Cape Coral / FL
Jul 10, 2026
0.5" Signatures 0.5"
1 ground report Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Cape Coral / FL
Jul 9, 2026
0.75" Signatures 0.75" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Cape Coral / FL
Jul 7, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Cape Coral / FL
Jun 27, 2026
0.75" Signatures 0.75"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Cape Coral / FL
May 18, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Cape Coral / FL
Apr 2, 2026
1.5" Signatures 1.5" Estimated 0.75"
No ground reports filed Open report →
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A storm day here is a convective day — it runs from noon to noon
UTC, so late-night hail is grouped with the afternoon storm that
spawned it rather than split across two calendar dates. Ground
reports are public-domain observations from the NOAA Storm
Prediction Center. Radar tells you where to look. Only an inspection confirms damage at an address. Last updated Aug 30, 2026.