Wind gust 58 mph
2 W Ankeny Polk County
“Measured from personal weather station. (DMX)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
/ Storm field report · Polk
Hail in Johnston · Jul 20, 2026
The estimated-size surface reached 1.75" aloft; NEXRAD logged no point detections over Johnston that day. Open it on the live map to see the swath over the streets.
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Peak hail signal 1.75" ≈ golf ball · radar-estimated size aloft
Homes in the hail footprint 26,150
Ground reports 1 1 wind
Radar surfaces 1 Estimated size only
Convective day · Jul 20, 2026 · noon–noon UTC
Severity
The 2nd most severe storm Johnston has seen in the last 12 months
Composite score · 5.1 / 10
Storm severity score
Overview's storm severity score weighs hailstone size, homes in the footprint, and ground-truth reports.
5.1 /10
- Peak hail signal
- 44 /100
- Homes exposed
- 88 /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 Johnston saw the hail — from two instruments
Jul 20, 2026 · Johnston, 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.
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
1.75"
Only the radar-estimated size surface resolved for Jul 20, 2026 — this storm produced no NEXRAD point detections over Johnston, so there is one map to show, not two.
The storm in context
Where Jul 20, 2026 sits in Johnston's hail record.
This was Johnston's 7th recorded hail day, arriving 39 days after the Jun 11, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 2nd of the 8 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Johnston at 1.75" — radar-estimated size aloft.
The Jul 20, 2026 convective day was bigger than Johnston: the same system put hail over 553 other tracked cities, 178 of them in Iowa. Nearest: Ankeny (5 miles east, up to 1.75"); Grimes (5 miles west, up to 2"); Des Moines (7 miles south, up to 1.5").
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
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 Ankeny — beyond Johnston itself.
High damage potential
What 1.75" hail means for Johnston roofs.
Hail around an inch and a half is capable of cracking shingles, stripping granules, and denting gutters, vents, and siding. Risk is usually greatest near the strongest radar signal, but property-level damage still requires an on-site inspection.
Radar reading · not confirmed damage
Roofing exposure
What this storm is worth to a roofer.
26,150 homes × $12,000 avg. claim
Potential roof exposure
$314M
Potential roof exposure — 26,150 homes × the ~$12,000 industry-average hail roof claim. Exposure, not confirmed damage.
- Illustrative jobs
- 131 jobs
- Illustrative work
- ~$2M
Close just 0.5% of the 26,150 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
July 2028
Claims from this storm can typically be filed until around July 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 $5,492 on top of the $150 plan.
Johnston hail history
Other storms in Johnston.
8 recorded storm days in Johnston, IA
Estimated-size surface Storm date Johnston / IA
Sep 8, 2026
2.5" Estimated 2.5"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Johnston / IA
Jun 11, 2026
0.75" Estimated 0.75"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Johnston / IA
Jun 10, 2026
0.5" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Johnston / IA
Apr 23, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Johnston / IA
Apr 15, 2026
0.5" Estimated 0.5"
1 ground report Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Johnston / IA
Mar 30, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 1"
2 ground reports Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Johnston / IA
Mar 6, 2026
0.75" Estimated 0.75"
No ground reports filed Open report →
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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 9, 2026.