“(DMX)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail in Johnston · Mar 30, 2026
Convective day · Mar 30, 2026 · noon–noon UTC
Severity
The 3rd most severe storm Johnston has seen in the last 12 months
Overview's storm severity score weighs hailstone size, homes in the footprint, and ground-truth reports.
- 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 Johnston 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.
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.
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.
The storm in context
Where Mar 30, 2026 sits in Johnston's hail record.
This was Johnston's 2nd recorded hail day, arriving 24 days after the Mar 6, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 3rd of the 8 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Johnston at 1" — radar-estimated size aloft.
The Mar 30, 2026 convective day was bigger than Johnston: the same system put hail over 313 other tracked cities, 78 of them in Iowa. Nearest: Ankeny (5 miles east, up to 1"); Grimes (5 miles west, up to 1"); Des Moines (7 miles south, up to 1").
These maps are stills. In the app this date is one of 8 Johnston 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
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
2 reports“Report from mPING: Quarter (1.00 in.). (DMX)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Storm forensics
How the storm moved
Read from the arrival times and locations of the NOAA ground reports, not a radar-measured storm track.
Hail was reported over 29 minutes, from to .
Reports came from Windsor Heights and Ankeny — beyond Johnston itself.
Damage-capable hail signal
What 1" hail means for Johnston 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.
Potential roof exposure
$7.7M
Potential roof exposure — 644 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 644 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
March 2028
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.
Names and phones for every home in the footprint: at most $135 on top of the $150 plan.
Johnston hail history
Other storms in Johnston.
Estimated-size surface Sep 8, 2026
2.5"
Estimated-size surface Jul 20, 2026
1.75"
Estimated-size surface Jun 11, 2026
0.75"
Estimated-size surface Jun 10, 2026
0.5"
Estimated-size surface Apr 23, 2026
1"
Estimated-size surface Apr 15, 2026
0.5"
Estimated-size surface Mar 6, 2026
0.75"The next storm won’t wait for you.
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