Wind gust 59 mph
3 SW Polk City Polk County
“Measured from personal weather station. (DMX)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
/ Storm field report · Polk
Hail in Polk City · Aug 12, 2026
Hit 31 days ago
NEXRAD logged 0 hail signatures up to 0"; the estimated-size surface reached 0.5" aloft. Open it on the live map to see the swath over the streets.
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Peak hail signal 0.5" ≈ pea to penny · radar-estimated size aloft
Homes in the hail footprint 156
Ground reports 2 2 wind
Radar surfaces 2 NEXRAD + estimated size
Convective day · Aug 12, 2026 · noon–noon UTC
Severity
The 7th most severe storm Polk City has seen in the last 12 months
Composite score · 2.3 / 10
Storm severity score
Overview's storm severity score weighs hailstone size, homes in the footprint, and ground-truth reports.
2.3 /10
- Peak hail signal
- 13 /100
- Homes exposed
- 44 /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 Polk City saw the hail — from two instruments
Aug 12, 2026 · Polk City, IA
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 Surface resolved
Radar signature field 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
0"
Detections
0
Radar-estimated hail size Surface resolved
Estimated size field Radar-estimated hail size over the swath. The model reports the biggest stone the storm could sustain in the air; what actually fell may have been smaller.
Max size
0.5"
The storm in context
Where Aug 12, 2026 sits in Polk City's hail record.
This was Polk City's 6th recorded hail day, arriving 23 days after the Jul 20, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 7th of the 7 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Polk City at 0.5" — radar-estimated size aloft.
The Aug 12, 2026 convective day was bigger than Polk City: the same system put hail over 507 other tracked cities, 50 of them in Iowa. Nearest: Madrid (5 miles west, up to 0.5"); Huxley (9 miles northeast, up to 0.5"); Woodward (10 miles west, up to 0.5").
These maps are stills. In the app this date is one of 7 Polk City 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
2 reports 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
2 reports Wind gust 61 mph
2 NW Alleman Polk County
“Measured from personal weather station. (DMX)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Storm 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 Alleman — beyond Polk City itself.
Below the severe threshold
What 0.5" hail means for Polk City 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.
156 homes × $12,000 avg. claim
Potential roof exposure
$1.9M
Potential roof exposure — 156 homes × the ~$12,000 industry-average hail roof claim. Exposure, not confirmed damage.
- Illustrative jobs
- 1 job
- Illustrative work
- ~$15K
Close just 0.5% of the 156 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
August 2028
Claims from this storm can typically be filed until around August 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 $33 on top of the $150 plan.
Polk City hail history
Other storms in Polk City.
7 recorded storm days in Polk City, IA
Estimated-size surface Storm date Polk City / IA
Sep 8, 2026
1.75" Estimated 1.75"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Polk City / IA
Jul 20, 2026
1.75" Estimated 1.75"
1 ground report Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Polk City / IA
Jul 3, 2026
1.5" Signatures 1.5" Estimated 0.75"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Polk City / IA
Jul 2, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 1"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Polk City / IA
Jun 11, 2026
0.75" Estimated 0.75"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Polk City / IA
Mar 30, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 1"
1 ground report Open report →
Take your next area into the field.
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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.