Hail size 1"
West Des Moines Polk County
“(DMX)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
/ Storm field report · Polk
Hail in Des Moines · Jul 20, 2026
The estimated-size surface reached 1.5" aloft; NEXRAD logged no point detections over Des Moines that day. Open it on the live map to see the swath over the streets.
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Peak hail signal 1.5" ≈ ping-pong ball · radar-estimated size aloft
Homes in the hail footprint 112,965
Ground reports 1 1 hail
Radar surfaces 1 Estimated size only
Convective day · Jul 20, 2026 · noon–noon UTC
Severity
The 3rd most severe storm Des Moines has seen in the last 12 months
Composite score · 5.0 / 10
Storm severity score
Overview's storm severity score weighs hailstone size, homes in the footprint, and ground-truth reports.
5.0 /10
- Peak hail signal
- 38 /100
- Homes exposed
- 100 /100
- Ground truth
- 17 /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 20, 2026 · Des Moines, IA
The maps here read the same storm from two angles — point detections from NEXRAD, and modeled hail size aloft. Where the two disagree is informative: it marks where estimated size outran the signatures, or trailed them.
Radar-estimated hail size Surface resolved
Estimated size field The modeled maximum hail size across the swath, derived from radar aloft — the largest stone the storm could have supported, which is not necessarily what reached the ground.
Max size
1.5"
Only the radar-estimated size surface resolved for Jul 20, 2026 — this storm produced no NEXRAD point detections over Des Moines, so there is one map to show, not two.
The storm in context
Where Jul 20, 2026 sits in Des Moines's hail record.
This was Des Moines's 8th recorded hail day, arriving 17 days after the Jul 3, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 3rd of the 11 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Des Moines at 1.5" — radar-estimated size aloft.
The Jul 20, 2026 convective day was bigger than Des Moines: the same system put hail over 553 other tracked cities, 178 of them in Iowa. Nearest: West Des Moines (5 miles west, up to 1.25"); Johnston (7 miles north, up to 1.75"); Ankeny (9 miles northeast, up to 1.75").
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
1 report 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.
Hail reports
1 reportStorm 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 West Des Moines — beyond Des Moines itself.
High damage potential
What 1.5" hail means for Des Moines roofs.
Hail around an inch and a half is capable of cracking shingles, stripping granules, and denting gutters, vents, and siding. Risk is usually greatest near the strongest radar signal, but property-level damage still requires an on-site inspection.
Radar reading · not confirmed damage
Roofing exposure
What this storm is worth to a roofer.
112,965 homes × $12,000 avg. claim
Potential roof exposure
$1.4B
Potential roof exposure — 112,965 homes × the ~$12,000 industry-average hail roof claim. Exposure, not confirmed damage.
- Illustrative jobs
- 565 jobs
- Illustrative work
- ~$8.5M
Close just 0.5% of the 112,965 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 $23,723 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 3, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 0.75"
2 ground reports 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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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.