Hail in Marshalltown · May 18, 2026
Convective day · May 18, 2026 · noon–noon UTC
Severity
The 7th most severe storm Marshalltown 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
- 13 /100
- Homes exposed
- 55 /100
- Ground truth
- 0 /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 Marshalltown saw the hail — from two instruments
We map this storm two ways: the NEXRAD radar signatures the storm produced overhead, and the radar-estimated size of the hail in the air. The two surfaces don’t have to match — where they diverge is where estimated size aloft ran ahead of, or behind, what the signatures caught.
Estimated size field Maximum hail size as estimated from radar aloft. Treat it as the storm's ceiling — the largest supportable stone — rather than a ground measurement.
Only the radar-estimated size surface resolved for May 18, 2026 — this storm produced no NEXRAD point detections over Marshalltown, so there is one map to show, not two.
The storm in context
Where May 18, 2026 sits in Marshalltown's hail record.
This was Marshalltown's 3rd recorded hail day, arriving 31 days after the Apr 17, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 7th of the 8 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Marshalltown at 0.5" — radar-estimated size aloft.
The May 18, 2026 convective day was bigger than Marshalltown: the same system put hail over 726 other tracked cities, 102 of them in Iowa. Nearest: Rhodes (17 miles southwest, up to 0.5"); Mingo (26 miles southwest, up to 0.5"); Elkhart (33 miles southwest, up to 0.75").
These maps are stills. In the app this date is one of 8 Marshalltown 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.
For this storm over Marshalltown, the NWS report log is empty — a common outcome, since ground reports only happen when someone witnesses the hail and takes the time to call it in. The detection record for the date lives in the radar maps above.
Below the severe threshold
What 0.5" hail means for Marshalltown roofs.
Radar signals under three-quarters of an inch stay below the National Weather Service severe threshold and generally indicate lower roof risk. Older or already-worn materials can still show effects, but radar alone cannot determine whether a specific roof was damaged.
Radar reading · not confirmed damage
Roofing exposure
What this storm is worth to a roofer.
Potential roof exposure
$6.7M
Potential roof exposure — 560 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 560 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 $118 on top of the $150 plan.
Marshalltown hail history
Other storms in Marshalltown.
Estimated-size surface Aug 11, 2026
1.25"
Estimated-size surface Jul 20, 2026
0.5"
Estimated-size surface Jul 2, 2026
2"
Estimated-size surface Jun 28, 2026
1"
Estimated-size surface Jun 11, 2026
0.5"
Estimated-size surface Apr 17, 2026
2"
Estimated-size surface Apr 15, 2026
1.25"The next storm won’t wait for you.
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