Wind gust 72 mph
5 ESE Henderson Montgomery County
“Personal Weather Station. (OAX)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
/ Storm field report · Montgomery
Hail in Emerson · May 17, 2026
NEXRAD logged 0 hail signatures up to 1"; the estimated-size surface reached 0.5" 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 144
Ground reports 1 1 wind
Radar surfaces 2 NEXRAD + estimated size
Convective day · May 17, 2026 · noon–noon UTC
Severity
The 12th most severe storm Emerson has seen in the last 12 months
Composite score · 2.8 / 10
Storm severity score
Overview's storm severity score weighs hailstone size, homes in the footprint, and ground-truth reports.
2.8 /10
- Peak hail signal
- 25 /100
- Homes exposed
- 43 /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 Emerson saw the hail — from two instruments
May 17, 2026 · Emerson, 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.
NEXRAD radar signatures Surface resolved
Radar signature field Where NEXRAD flagged hail as the storm passed — point signatures from the radar, which indicate hail overhead rather than confirm what landed.
Max size
1"
Detections
0
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
0.5"
The storm in context
Where May 17, 2026 sits in Emerson's hail record.
This was Emerson's 6th recorded hail day, arriving 1 day after the May 16, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 12th of the 15 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Emerson at 1" — the largest NEXRAD radar signature.
The May 17, 2026 convective day was bigger than Emerson: the same system put hail over 894 other tracked cities, 139 of them in Iowa. Nearest: Elliott (10 miles east, up to 1"); Griswold (10 miles northeast, up to 1"); Hastings (11 miles west, up to 1").
These maps are stills. In the app this date is one of 15 Emerson 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.
Wind 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 Henderson — beyond Emerson itself.
Damage-capable hail signal
What 1" hail means for Emerson 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.
144 homes × $12,000 avg. claim
Potential roof exposure
$1.7M
Potential roof exposure — 144 homes × the ~$12,000 industry-average hail roof claim. Exposure, not confirmed damage.
- Illustrative jobs
- 1 job
- Illustrative work
- ~$15K
Close just 0.5% of the 144 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
May 2028
Claims from this storm can typically be filed until around May 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 $30 on top of the $150 plan.
Emerson hail history
Other storms in Emerson.
15 recorded storm days in Emerson, IA
Estimated-size surface Storm date Emerson / IA
Sep 14, 2026
0.5" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Emerson / IA
Aug 8, 2026
0.5" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Emerson / IA
Aug 4, 2026
2" Estimated 2"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Emerson / IA
Jun 30, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 0.75"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Emerson / IA
Jun 13, 2026
1" Estimated 1"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Emerson / IA
Jun 10, 2026
1.25" Estimated 1.25"
1 ground report Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Emerson / IA
Jun 5, 2026
1.75" Signatures 1.75" Estimated 1"
2 ground reports Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Emerson / IA
May 31, 2026
1.75" Signatures 1.75" Estimated 1"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Emerson / IA
May 18, 2026
1.5" Signatures 1.5" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Emerson / IA
May 16, 2026
2.5" Signatures 2.5" Estimated 2"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Emerson / IA
May 15, 2026
3" Signatures 3" Estimated 1.5"
2 ground reports Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Emerson / IA
Apr 23, 2026
2" Signatures 2" Estimated 1"
No ground reports filed Open report →
NEXRAD surface Storm date Emerson / IA
Apr 9, 2026
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Emerson / IA
Mar 6, 2026
1" Estimated 1"
1 ground report Open report →
The next storm won’t wait for you.
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 15, 2026.