Storm report · Polk

Hail in Grimes Mar 30, 2026

Both radar surfaces caught this storm: NEXRAD logged 2 hail signatures up to 1", and the radar-estimated size reached 1" aloft.

Largest hailstone

1"

≈ quarter · radar-estimated size aloft
Homes in the hail footprint

1,027

Ground reports

0

none filed
Severity

The 3rd most severe storm Grimes 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.

3.0 /10
Hail size
25 /100

Largest hailstone — the top predictor of roof damage.

Homes exposed
60 /100

How many homes sit inside the storm's footprint.

Ground truth
0 /100

Independent storm reports filed with the NWS.

Two ways to read the storm

How Grimes saw the hail — from two instruments

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
NEXRAD radar-signature map of the hail storm over Grimes, IA on Mar 30, 2026

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 2
Radar-estimated hail size
Radar-estimated hail-size map of the storm over Grimes, IA on Mar 30, 2026

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"
The storm in context

Where Mar 30, 2026 sits in Grimes's hail record

This was Grimes's 1st recorded hail day — the first hail day in our records for the city. By severity it ranks 3rd of the 5 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Grimes at 1" — radar-estimated size aloft.

The Mar 30, 2026 convective day was bigger than Grimes: the same system put hail over 313 other tracked cities, 78 of them in Iowa. Nearest: Johnston (5 miles east, up to 1"); West Des Moines (7 miles south, up to 1.75"); Dallas Center (8 miles west, up to 1.75").

These maps are stills from Grimes's Mar 30, 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.

Ground reports

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.

Nobody on the ground filed a report over Grimes for this date, which says more about who was watching than about the storm: spotter reports only exist where there is an observer. The radar surfaces above carry the evidence for this one.

Shingle-bruising hail

What 1" hail means for Grimes 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.

What this storm is worth to a roofer

$12M

Potential roof exposure — 1,027 homes × the ~$12,000 industry-average hail roof claim. Exposure, not confirmed damage.
Illustrative jobs
5 jobs
Illustrative work
~$75K
Close just 0.5% of the 1,027 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.
Claims from this storm can typically be filed until around March 2028 — the window to reach these homeowners while it's still open. Deadlines vary by policy and state.

Track hail over Grimes on the live map

Radar updates in real time, spotter reports appear on the map as they're filed, and the full Grimes storm history — this Mar 30, 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

Grimes hail history

5 recorded storm days in Grimes, IA

← All hail in Grimes

Other storms in Grimes

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.