Hail size 1.25"
3 N Ames Story County
“Nickel to half dollar size. (DMX)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail in Ames Apr 15, 2026
The radar-estimated size surface caught this storm, reaching 1" aloft. NEXRAD logged no point detections over Ames this day.
Largest hailstone
1"
≈ quarter · radar-estimated size aloft Homes in the hail footprint
1,668
Ground reports
4
4 hailThe 4th most severe storm Ames 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.
4.1 /10
- Hail size
- 25 /100
- Homes exposed
- 64 /100
- Ground truth
- 67 /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 Ames saw the hail — from two instruments
Each storm gets two readings: the radar signatures NEXRAD recorded as the cells passed overhead, and a modeled estimate of hail size in the air. They are independent surfaces, so a mismatch between them is expected — and worth reading.
Radar-estimated hail size
Radar-estimated hail size over the swath. The model reports the biggest stone the storm could sustain in the air; what actually fell may have been smaller.
Max size
1"
Only the radar-estimated size surface resolved for Apr 15, 2026 — this storm produced no NEXRAD point detections over Ames, so there is one map to show, not two.
Where Apr 15, 2026 sits in Ames's hail record
This was Ames's 2nd recorded hail day, arriving 41 days after the Mar 5, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 4th of the 10 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Ames at 1" — radar-estimated size aloft.
The Apr 15, 2026 convective day was bigger than Ames: the same system put hail over 425 other tracked cities, 127 of them in Iowa. Nearest: Nevada (10 miles east, up to 0.75"); Story City (10 miles north, up to 0.75"); Huxley (11 miles south, up to 1").
These maps are stills from Ames's Apr 15, 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.
Hail reports
4 reports Hail size 1.5"
2 SE Gilbert Story County
“Reported by General Public. (DMX)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail size 1"
1 S Gilbert Story County
“Relayed by EM. (DMX)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail size 1"
6 NE Ames Story County
“Relayed from Spotter Network. (DMX)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Storm forensics
Read from the arrival times and locations of the NOAA ground reports,
not a radar-measured storm track.
How the storm moved
Hail was reported over 15 minutes, from to .
Reports came from Gilbert — beyond Ames itself.
What 1" hail means for Ames roofs
Quarter-size and larger hail is where asphalt shingle damage starts in earnest: bruised mats and granule loss that homeowners can't see from the ground. Most people inside the footprint won't know their roof was hit until someone inspects it.
What this storm is worth to a roofer
$20M
Potential roof exposure — 1,668 homes × the ~$12,000 industry-average hail roof claim. Exposure, not confirmed damage.
Illustrative jobs
8 jobs
Illustrative work
~$120K
Claims from this storm can typically be filed until around April 2028 — the window to reach these homeowners while it's still open. Deadlines vary by policy and state.
Track hail over Ames on the live map
Radar updates in real time, spotter reports appear on the map as they're filed, and the full Ames storm history — this Apr 15, 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
Ames hail history
← All hail in Ames 10 recorded storm days in Ames, IA
Other storms in Ames
Jul 20, 2026
2" Estimated 2"
3
ground reports 
Jul 3, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed 
Jul 2, 2026
1.75" Signatures 1.75" Estimated 1"
No ground reports filed 
Jun 28, 2026
2.5" Signatures 2.5" Estimated 1.5"
No ground reports filed 
Jun 16, 2026
0.75" Estimated 0.75"
1
ground report 
Jun 11, 2026
0.75" Estimated 0.75"
2
ground reports 
Jun 10, 2026
0.75" Estimated 0.75"
No ground reports filed 
Apr 23, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed 
Mar 5, 2026
1" Signatures 1"
No ground reports filed
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 surfaces are detections and estimates,
not confirmed damage. Last updated Aug 3, 2026.