Tornado Rating unknown
1 W Joice Worth County
“Structure damage. Time estimated via radar. (DMX)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail in Forest City May 17, 2026
NEXRAD caught this storm: 0 hail signatures up to 1". The radar-estimated size surface had no signal to model this day.
A tornado was also reported to the National Weather Service during this storm — see the ground reports below.
Largest hailstone
1"
≈ quarter · the largest NEXRAD radar signature Homes in the hail footprint
0
Ground reports
1
1 tornadoThe 4th most severe storm Forest City has seen in the last 12 months
Storm severity score
Overview's storm severity score weighs hailstone size, homes in the footprint, and ground-truth reports.
2.0 /10
- Hail size
- 25 /100
- Homes exposed
- 0 /100
- Ground truth
- 33 /100
Largest hailstone — the top predictor of roof damage.
How many homes sit inside the storm's footprint.
Independent storm reports filed with the NWS.
How Forest City saw the hail — from two instruments
Each storm gets two readings: the radar signatures NEXRAD recorded as the cells passed overhead, and a modeled estimate of hail size in the air. They are independent surfaces, so a mismatch between them is expected — and worth reading.
NEXRAD radar signatures
The point detections NEXRAD recorded overhead. Each signature marks where the radar saw hail aloft — it is a detection, not a stone measured on the ground.
Max size
1"
Detections
0
Only the NEXRAD radar-signature surface resolved for May 17, 2026 — the estimated-size swath had no hail signal to model for this storm, so there is one map to show, not two.
Where May 17, 2026 sits in Forest City's hail record
This was Forest City's 2nd recorded hail day, arriving 2 days after the May 15, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 4th of the 5 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Forest City at 1" — the largest NEXRAD radar signature.
The May 17, 2026 convective day was bigger than Forest City: the same system put hail over 894 other tracked cities, 139 of them in Iowa. Nearest: Leland (9 miles northwest, up to 0"); Ventura (10 miles south, up to 1"); Emmons (15 miles north, up to 1").
These maps are stills from Forest City's May 17, 2026 storm. In the Overview app the same surfaces are live — radar updating in real time, radar-estimated hail size as it forms, and NWS spotter reports pinned where they're filed — with a radar replay you can scrub back over any past day.
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.
Tornado reports
1 report
Storm forensics
Read from the arrival times and locations of the NOAA ground reports,
not a radar-measured storm track.
How the storm moved
Reports came from Joice — beyond Forest City itself.
What 1" hail means for Forest City roofs
Quarter-size and larger hail is where asphalt shingle damage starts in earnest: bruised mats and granule loss that homeowners can't see from the ground. Most people inside the footprint won't know their roof was hit until someone inspects it.
Track hail over Forest City on the live map
Radar updates in real time, spotter reports appear on the map as they're filed, and the full Forest City storm history — this May 17, 2026 storm included — sits underneath. When you're ready, draw this storm's footprint and pull highly accurate homeowner contact information for every address inside it.
Highly accurate contact information starting at $0.23 per address — every contact included. Digital leads cost $15–$40. Start with a 7-day free trial — no credit card required. See pricing
Forest City hail history
← All hail in Forest City 5 recorded storm days in Forest City, IA
Other storms in Forest City
Jul 26, 2026
0.75" Signatures 0.75"
No ground reports filed 
Jul 8, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed 
Jul 2, 2026
1.75" Signatures 1.75" Estimated 0.75"
No ground reports filed 
May 15, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 0.75"
No ground reports filed
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 surfaces are detections and estimates,
not confirmed damage. Last updated Aug 3, 2026.