Tornado Rating unknown
Graettinger Palo Alto County
“Reports of power pole and tree damage in town. Time estimated by radar. (DMX)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
/ Storm field report · Palo Alto
Hail in Emmetsburg · May 17, 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.
A tornado was also reported to the National Weather Service during this storm. The ground reports below show where it was filed.
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Peak hail signal 1" ≈ quarter · the largest NEXRAD radar signature
Homes in the hail footprint 614
Ground reports 1 1 tornado
Radar surfaces 2 NEXRAD + estimated size
Convective day · May 17, 2026 · noon–noon UTC
Severity
The 4th most severe storm Emmetsburg has seen in the last 12 months
Composite score · 3.4 / 10
Storm severity score
Overview's storm severity score weighs hailstone size, homes in the footprint, and ground-truth reports.
3.4 /10
- Peak hail signal
- 25 /100
- Homes exposed
- 56 /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 Emmetsburg saw the hail — from two instruments
May 17, 2026 · Emmetsburg, 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
0.75"
The storm in context
Where May 17, 2026 sits in Emmetsburg's hail record.
This was Emmetsburg's 3rd recorded hail day, arriving 24 days after the Apr 23, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 4th of the 12 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Emmetsburg at 1" — the largest NEXRAD radar signature.
The May 17, 2026 convective day was bigger than Emmetsburg: the same system put hail over 894 other tracked cities, 139 of them in Iowa. Nearest: Graettinger (8 miles northwest, up to 1"); Ruthven (10 miles west, up to 1.75"); Wallingford (11 miles north, up to 0.5").
These maps are stills. In the app this date is one of 12 Emmetsburg 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.
Tornado 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 Graettinger — beyond Emmetsburg itself.
Damage-capable hail signal
What 1" hail means for Emmetsburg 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.
614 homes × $12,000 avg. claim
Potential roof exposure
$7.4M
Potential roof exposure — 614 homes × the ~$12,000 industry-average hail roof claim. Exposure, not confirmed damage.
- Illustrative jobs
- 3 jobs
- Illustrative work
- ~$45K
Close just 0.5% of the 614 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 $129 on top of the $150 plan.
Emmetsburg hail history
Other storms in Emmetsburg.
12 recorded storm days in Emmetsburg, IA
Estimated-size surface Storm date Emmetsburg / IA
Sep 6, 2026
1.25" Estimated 1.25"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Emmetsburg / IA
Sep 1, 2026
0.5" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Emmetsburg / IA
Aug 8, 2026
0.75" Estimated 0.75"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Emmetsburg / IA
Jul 4, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Emmetsburg / IA
Jul 2, 2026
1.25" Signatures 1.25"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Emmetsburg / IA
Jul 1, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 0.75"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Emmetsburg / IA
Jun 28, 2026
2.25" Signatures 2.25" Estimated 1.25"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Emmetsburg / IA
Jun 27, 2026
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Emmetsburg / IA
May 25, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Emmetsburg / IA
Apr 23, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Emmetsburg / IA
Apr 13, 2026
2" Signatures 2" Estimated 1.25"
3 ground reports 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 7, 2026.