Wind gust 58 mph
Des Moines Int Airport Polk County
“(DMX)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
/ Storm field report · Polk
Hail in Des Moines · Jul 3, 2026
NEXRAD logged 0 hail signatures up to 1"; the estimated-size surface reached 0.75" aloft. Open it on the live map to see the swath over the streets.
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Peak hail signal 1" ≈ quarter · the largest NEXRAD radar signature
Homes in the hail footprint 23,926
Ground reports 2 2 wind
Radar surfaces 2 NEXRAD + estimated size
Convective day · Jul 3, 2026 · noon–noon UTC
Severity
The 4th most severe storm Des Moines has seen in the last 12 months
Composite score · 4.2 / 10
Storm severity score
Overview's storm severity score weighs hailstone size, homes in the footprint, and ground-truth reports.
4.2 /10
- Peak hail signal
- 25 /100
- Homes exposed
- 88 /100
- Ground truth
- 33 /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 Des Moines saw the hail — from two instruments
Jul 3, 2026 · Des Moines, IA
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 radar signatures Surface resolved
Radar signature field 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.
Max size
1"
Detections
0
Radar-estimated hail size Surface resolved
Estimated size field 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.
Max size
0.75"
The storm in context
Where Jul 3, 2026 sits in Des Moines's hail record.
This was Des Moines's 7th recorded hail day, arriving 1 day after the Jul 2, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 4th of the 11 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Des Moines at 1" — the largest NEXRAD radar signature.
The Jul 3, 2026 convective day was bigger than Des Moines: the same system put hail over 1,885 other tracked cities, 182 of them in Iowa. Nearest: West Des Moines (5 miles west, up to 1"); Norwalk (9 miles southeast, up to 1"); Grimes (9 miles northwest, up to 1.5").
These maps are stills. In the app this date is one of 11 Des Moines 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
2 reports filed with the NWS
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.
Wind reports
2 reports Wind gust 58 mph
Des Moines Int Airport Polk County
“(DMX)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Storm forensics
How the storm moved
Timing and place names from NOAA ground reports
Read from the arrival times and locations of the NOAA ground reports, not a radar-measured storm track.
Reports came from Des Moines Int Airport — beyond Des Moines itself.
Damage-capable hail signal
What 1" hail means for Des Moines 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.
23,926 homes × $12,000 avg. claim
Potential roof exposure
$287M
Potential roof exposure — 23,926 homes × the ~$12,000 industry-average hail roof claim. Exposure, not confirmed damage.
- Illustrative jobs
- 120 jobs
- Illustrative work
- ~$1.8M
Close just 0.5% of the 23,926 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
July 2028
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.
Names and phones for every home in the footprint: at most $5,024 on top of the $150 plan.
Des Moines hail history
Other storms in Des Moines.
11 recorded storm days in Des Moines, IA
Estimated-size surface Storm date Des Moines / IA
Sep 15, 2026
0.5" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Des Moines / IA
Sep 8, 2026
1.75" Estimated 1.75"
1 ground report Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Des Moines / IA
Jul 27, 2026
0.5" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Des Moines / IA
Jul 20, 2026
1.5" Estimated 1.5"
1 ground report Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Des Moines / IA
Jul 2, 2026
1.75" Signatures 1.75" Estimated 1.25"
5 ground reports Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Des Moines / IA
Jun 11, 2026
0.75" Estimated 0.75"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Des Moines / IA
May 18, 2026
0.75" Estimated 0.75"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Des Moines / IA
Apr 17, 2026
0.75" Signatures 0.75"
2 ground reports Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Des Moines / IA
Mar 30, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 0.75"
1 ground report Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Des Moines / IA
Mar 6, 2026
0.5" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed Open report →
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Set your territory and alerts today. When hail hits, use Overview to choose your streets and get moving.
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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 tells you where to look. Only an inspection confirms damage at an address. Last updated Sep 16, 2026.