Hail in Lake Wales May 12, 2026
Both radar surfaces caught this storm: NEXRAD logged 5 hail signatures up to 2.75", and the radar-estimated size reached 0.75" aloft. At 2.75" — baseball — this is severe, roof-replacing hail: close to every roof inside the footprint becomes a claim candidate.
2.75"
≈ baseball · the largest NEXRAD radar signature0
0
none filedThe 4th most severe storm Lake Wales has seen in the last 12 months
Overview's storm severity score weighs hailstone size, homes in the footprint, and ground-truth reports.
- Hail size
- 69 /100
- Homes exposed
- 0 /100
- Ground truth
- 0 /100
Largest hailstone — the top predictor of roof damage.
How many homes sit inside the storm's footprint.
Independent storm reports filed with the NWS.
How Lake Wales saw the hail — from two instruments
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'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.
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.
Where May 12, 2026 sits in Lake Wales's hail record
This was Lake Wales's 4th recorded hail day, arriving 48 days after the Mar 25, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 4th of the 20 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Lake Wales at 2.75" — the largest NEXRAD radar signature.
The May 12, 2026 convective day was bigger than Lake Wales: the same system put hail over 18 other tracked cities, 13 of them in Florida. Nearest: Haines City (17 miles northwest, up to 0.75"); Kenansville (22 miles east, up to 2.5"); Okeechobee (39 miles southeast, up to 1").
These maps are stills from Lake Wales's May 12, 2026 storm. In the Overview app the same surfaces are live — radar updating in real time, radar-estimated hail size as it forms, and NWS spotter reports pinned where they're filed — with a radar replay you can scrub back over any past day.
What people on the ground reported
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.
The National Weather Service logged no spotter reports for this storm over Lake Wales. That absence is ordinary — filing a report takes a person on the spot who saw the hail and phoned it in. What stands as the record for this date is the radar above, which caught the storm regardless.
What 2.75" hail means for Lake Wales roofs
Two-inch-plus hail punctures shingles, breaks skylights and windows, and dents anything soft. In the core of a footprint like this, close to every roof is a candidate for an insurance claim. Speed decides who writes those jobs.
Track hail over Lake Wales on the live map
Radar updates in real time, spotter reports appear on the map as they're filed, and the full Lake Wales storm history — this May 12, 2026 storm included — sits underneath. When you're ready, draw this storm's footprint and pull highly accurate homeowner contact information for every address inside it.
Highly accurate contact information starting at $0.23 per address — every contact included. Digital leads cost $15–$40. Start with a 7-day free trial — no credit card required. See pricing
20 recorded storm days in Lake Wales, FL
Other storms in Lake Wales
Jul 26, 2026
2.5"
Jul 17, 2026
0.75"
Jul 16, 2026
0.5"
Jul 10, 2026
1.5"
Jul 7, 2026
0.75"
Jul 4, 2026
1.75"
Jun 30, 2026
1"
Jun 29, 2026
1.25"
Jun 24, 2026
0.75"
Jun 23, 2026
1"
Jun 22, 2026
2"
Jun 21, 2026
0.75"
Jun 20, 2026
0.5"
Jun 19, 2026
0.75"
Jun 12, 2026
0.5"
May 26, 2026
0.5"
Mar 25, 2026
0.75"
Mar 15, 2026
2"
Mar 5, 2026
1"