Hail in Council Bluffs · Aug 4, 2026
The estimated-size surface reached 1" aloft; NEXRAD logged no point detections over Council Bluffs that day. Open it on the live map to see the swath over the streets.
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Convective day · Aug 4, 2026 · noon–noon UTC
Severity
The 6th most severe storm Council Bluffs has seen in the last 12 months
Overview's storm severity score weighs hailstone size, homes in the footprint, and ground-truth reports.
- Peak hail signal
- 25 /100
- Homes exposed
- 63 /100
- Ground truth
- 0 /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 Council Bluffs 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.
Estimated size field Maximum hail size as estimated from radar aloft. Treat it as the storm's ceiling — the largest supportable stone — rather than a ground measurement.
Only the radar-estimated size surface resolved for Aug 4, 2026 — this storm produced no NEXRAD point detections over Council Bluffs, so there is one map to show, not two.
The storm in context
Where Aug 4, 2026 sits in Council Bluffs's hail record.
This was Council Bluffs's 11th recorded hail day, arriving 27 days after the Jul 8, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 6th of the 11 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Council Bluffs at 1" — radar-estimated size aloft.
The Aug 4, 2026 convective day was bigger than Council Bluffs: the same system put hail over 131 other tracked cities, 43 of them in Iowa. Nearest: Treynor (5 miles east, up to 0.75"); Glenwood (7 miles south, up to 1.75"); Malvern (9 miles southeast, up to 1.75").
These maps are stills. In the app this date is one of 11 Council Bluffs 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
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 Council Bluffs. 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.
Damage-capable hail signal
What 1" hail means for Council Bluffs 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.
Potential roof exposure
$17M
Potential roof exposure — 1,408 homes × the ~$12,000 industry-average hail roof claim. Exposure, not confirmed damage.
- Illustrative jobs
- 7 jobs
- Illustrative work
- ~$105K
Close just 0.5% of the 1,408 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
August 2028
Claims from this storm can typically be filed until around August 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 $296 on top of the $150 plan.
Council Bluffs hail history
Other storms in Council Bluffs.
Estimated-size surface Jul 8, 2026
0.5"
Estimated-size surface Jul 3, 2026
1.25"
Estimated-size surface Jun 30, 2026
1"
Estimated-size surface Jun 13, 2026
1.25"
Estimated-size surface May 31, 2026
1.75"
Estimated-size surface May 30, 2026
1"
Estimated-size surface May 17, 2026
1.75"
Estimated-size surface Apr 23, 2026
1.75"
NEXRAD surface Apr 3, 2026
0.75"
Estimated-size surface Mar 5, 2026
1"Take your next area into the field.
See the hail, review your recommendations, and canvass with Overview on iPhone.
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