Tornado Rating unknown
3 NE Sergeant Bluff Woodbury County
“Several videos via social media of brief gustnado. Location estimated. (FSD)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail in Sergeant Bluff May 17, 2026
Both radar surfaces caught this storm: NEXRAD logged 0 hail signatures up to 1", and the radar-estimated size reached 1" aloft.
A tornado was also reported to the National Weather Service during this storm — see the ground reports below.
Largest hailstone
1"
≈ quarter · radar-estimated size aloft Homes in the hail footprint
8,568
Ground reports
3
1 wind · 2 tornadoThe 2nd most severe storm Sergeant Bluff 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.
4.7 /10
- Hail size
- 25 /100
- Homes exposed
- 79 /100
- Ground truth
- 83 /100
Largest hailstone — the top predictor of roof damage.
How many homes sit inside the storm's footprint.
Independent storm reports filed with the NWS.
How Sergeant Bluff saw the hail — from two instruments
Two instruments, one storm: NEXRAD logs the point signatures it detected overhead, while the estimated-size surface models how large the hail aloft could have grown. Agreement between them is not guaranteed — the gaps are where the model ran ahead of, or behind, the detections.
NEXRAD radar signatures
NEXRAD's hail signatures for this storm: the spots the radar detected from above. A detection overhead is not the same thing as a confirmed stone below.
Max size
1"
Detections
0
Radar-estimated hail size
Radar-estimated maximum hail size across the swath, modeled from radar aloft. It reflects the biggest stone the storm could support, which may differ from what actually fell.
Max size
1"
Where May 17, 2026 sits in Sergeant Bluff's hail record
This was Sergeant Bluff's 2nd recorded hail day, arriving 24 days after the Apr 23, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 2nd of the 5 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Sergeant Bluff at 1" — radar-estimated size aloft.
The May 17, 2026 convective day was bigger than Sergeant Bluff: the same system put hail over 894 other tracked cities, 139 of them in Iowa. Nearest: Bronson (5 miles east, up to 1"); Salix (7 miles south, up to 1"); Lawton (9 miles northeast, up to 1.75").
These maps are stills from Sergeant Bluff's May 17, 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.
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.
Tornado reports
2 reports Tornado Rating unknown
3 SE Sergeant Bluff Woodbury County
“Several videos via social media of brief gustnado. Location estimated. (FSD)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Wind reports
1 report Wind gust 66 mph
4 NNE Sergeant Bluff Woodbury County
“Via personal weather station. Exact time estimated via radar. (FSD)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
What 1" hail means for Sergeant Bluff 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
$103M
Potential roof exposure — 8,568 homes × the ~$12,000 industry-average hail roof claim. Exposure, not confirmed damage.
Illustrative jobs
43 jobs
Illustrative work
~$645K
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.
Track hail over Sergeant Bluff on the live map
Radar updates in real time, spotter reports appear on the map as they're filed, and the full Sergeant Bluff storm history — this May 17, 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
Sergeant Bluff hail history
← All hail in Sergeant Bluff 5 recorded storm days in Sergeant Bluff, IA
Other storms in Sergeant Bluff
Jul 25, 2026
0.5" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed 
Jul 1, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 0.75"
No ground reports filed 
Jun 29, 2026
1.75" Signatures 1.75" Estimated 0.75"
1
ground report 
Apr 23, 2026
1.75" Signatures 1.75" Estimated 1"
No ground reports filed
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.