Hail size 1"
2 WSW Johnston Polk County
“Trained spotter sent a picture of a hail stone 1 inch in diameter. (DMX)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail in West Des Moines Apr 15, 2026
The radar-estimated size surface caught this storm, reaching 0.5" aloft. NEXRAD logged no point detections over West Des Moines this day.
Largest hailstone
0.5"
≈ pea to penny · radar-estimated size aloft Homes in the hail footprint
6,630
Ground reports
1
1 hailThe 8th most severe storm West Des Moines 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.
2.9 /10
- Hail size
- 13 /100
- Homes exposed
- 76 /100
- Ground truth
- 17 /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 West Des Moines saw the hail — from two instruments
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.
Radar-estimated hail size
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"
Only the radar-estimated size surface resolved for Apr 15, 2026 — this storm produced no NEXRAD point detections over West Des Moines, so there is one map to show, not two.
Where Apr 15, 2026 sits in West Des Moines's hail record
This was West Des Moines's 2nd recorded hail day, arriving 16 days after the Mar 30, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 8th of the 8 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over West Des Moines at 0.5" — radar-estimated size aloft.
The Apr 15, 2026 convective day was bigger than West Des Moines: the same system put hail over 425 other tracked cities, 127 of them in Iowa. Nearest: Johnston (9 miles northeast, up to 0.5"); Ankeny (12 miles northeast, up to 0.5"); Bondurant (17 miles northeast, up to 0.5").
These maps are stills from West Des Moines's Apr 15, 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.
Hail reports
1 report
Storm forensics
Read from the arrival times and locations of the NOAA ground reports,
not a radar-measured storm track.
How the storm moved
Reports came from Johnston — beyond West Des Moines itself.
What 0.5" hail means for West Des Moines roofs
Hail under three-quarters of an inch stays below the National Weather Service severe threshold and rarely breaks shingles outright. But repeated small-hail events accelerate granule loss and shorten roof life — on older roofs, it's still worth a conversation.
What this storm is worth to a roofer
$80M
Potential roof exposure — 6,630 homes × the ~$12,000 industry-average hail roof claim. Exposure, not confirmed damage.
Illustrative jobs
33 jobs
Illustrative work
~$495K
Claims from this storm can typically be filed until around April 2028 — the window to reach these homeowners while it's still open. Deadlines vary by policy and state.
Track hail over West Des Moines on the live map
Radar updates in real time, spotter reports appear on the map as they're filed, and the full West Des Moines storm history — this Apr 15, 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
West Des Moines hail history
← All hail in West Des Moines 8 recorded storm days in West Des Moines, IA
Other storms in West Des Moines
Jul 20, 2026
1.25" Estimated 1.25"
2
ground reports 
Jul 3, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 1"
No ground reports filed 
Jul 2, 2026
1.75" Signatures 1.75" Estimated 1.25"
No ground reports filed 
Jun 11, 2026
0.75" Estimated 0.75"
No ground reports filed 
May 18, 2026
0.75" Estimated 0.75"
No ground reports filed 
Apr 23, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed 
Mar 30, 2026
1.75" Signatures 1.75" Estimated 0.75"
2
ground reports
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.