Hail size 1"
3 ESE Alburnett Linn County
“(DVN)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail in Central City Apr 17, 2026
Both radar surfaces caught this storm: NEXRAD logged 20 hail signatures up to 1.25", and the radar-estimated size reached 0.75" aloft.
Largest hailstone
1.25"
≈ half-dollar · the largest NEXRAD radar signature Homes in the hail footprint
1,513
Ground reports
1
1 hailThe most severe storm Central City 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.
3.7 /10
- Hail size
- 31 /100
- Homes exposed
- 64 /100
- Ground truth
- 17 /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 Central City 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.
NEXRAD radar signatures
The point detections NEXRAD recorded overhead. Each signature marks where the radar saw hail aloft — it is a detection, not a stone measured on the ground.
Max size
1.25"
Detections
20
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
0.75"
Where Apr 17, 2026 sits in Central City's hail record
This was Central City's 1st recorded hail day — the first hail day in our records for the city. By severity it ranks 1st of the 2 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Central City at 1.25" — the largest NEXRAD radar signature.
The Apr 17, 2026 convective day was bigger than Central City: the same system put hail over 1,016 other tracked cities, 201 of them in Iowa. Nearest: Coggon (7 miles north, up to 1.5"); Springville (9 miles southeast, up to 1"); Anamosa (13 miles east, up to 1.75").
These maps are stills from Central City's Apr 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.
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
1 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
Reports came from Alburnett — beyond Central City itself.
What 1.25" hail means for Central City 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
$18M
Potential roof exposure — 1,513 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 Central City on the live map
Radar updates in real time, spotter reports appear on the map as they're filed, and the full Central City storm history — this Apr 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.
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
Central City hail history
← All hail in Central City 2 recorded storm days in Central City, IA
Other storms in Central City
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 2, 2026.