Storm report · Polk

Hail in Lake Wales Jul 17, 2026

Hit 17 days ago

The radar-estimated size surface caught this storm, reaching 0.75" aloft. NEXRAD logged no point detections over Lake Wales this day.

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Largest hailstone

0.75"

≈ penny to nickel · radar-estimated size aloft

Homes in the hail footprint

1,082

Ground reports

none filed

Severity

The 11th most severe storm Lake Wales has seen in the last 12 months

Storm severity score

Overview's storm severity score weighs hailstone size, homes in the footprint, and ground-truth reports.

2.6 /10

Hail size: 19 /100
Homes exposed: 61 /100
Ground truth: 0 /100

Two ways to read the storm

How Lake Wales saw the hail — from two instruments

We map this storm two ways: the NEXRAD radar signatures the storm produced overhead, and the radar-estimated size of the hail in the air. The two surfaces don’t have to match — where they diverge is where estimated size aloft ran ahead of, or behind, what the signatures caught.

Radar-estimated hail-size map of the storm over Lake Wales, FL on Jul 17, 2026 — Maximum hail size as estimated from radar aloft. Treat it as the storm's ceiling — the largest supportable stone — rather than a ground measurement.

Max size 0.75"

Only the radar-estimated size surface resolved for Jul 17, 2026 — this storm produced no NEXRAD point detections over Lake Wales, so there is one map to show, not two.

The storm in context

Where Jul 17, 2026 sits in Lake Wales's hail record

This was Lake Wales's 19th recorded hail day, arriving 1 day after the Jul 16, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 11th of the 20 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Lake Wales at 0.75" — radar-estimated size aloft.

The Jul 17, 2026 convective day was bigger than Lake Wales: the same system put hail over 415 other tracked cities, 71 of them in Florida. Nearest: Frostproof (17 miles southwest, up to 0.5"); Okeechobee (39 miles southeast, up to 0.5"); Davenport (41 miles northwest, up to 0.5").

These maps are stills from Lake Wales's Jul 17, 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.

Ground reports

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.

Nobody on the ground filed a report over Lake Wales for this date, which says more about who was watching than about the storm: spotter reports only exist where there is an observer. The radar surfaces above carry the evidence for this one.

Near the severe threshold

What 0.75" hail means for Lake Wales roofs

Hail this size sits right at the edge of the National Weather Service severe threshold. Newer roofs usually shrug it off, but aging or already-worn shingles can bruise, and soft metals — vents, flashing, gutters — often show the first dents.

What this storm is worth to a roofer

$13M

Potential roof exposure — 1,082 homes × the ~$12,000 industry-average hail roof claim. Exposure, not confirmed damage.

Illustrative jobs

5 jobs

Illustrative work

~$75K

Close just 0.5% of the 1,082 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.

Claims from this storm can typically be filed until around July 2028 — the window to reach these homeowners while it's still open. Deadlines vary by policy and state.

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 Jul 17, 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.

Reach 1,082 affected homes → Book a 15-min demo

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

Lake Wales hail history

20 recorded storm days in Lake Wales, FL

← All hail in Lake Wales

Other storms in Lake Wales

Jul 26, 2026