Wind gust 72 mph
Midway Airport Cook County
“Peak wind gust of 63 kt. (LOT)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
/ Storm field report · Cook
Hail in Chicago · Jul 3, 2026
NEXRAD logged 53 hail signatures up to 1.5"; the estimated-size surface reached 0.75" aloft. Open it on the live map to see the swath over the streets.
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Peak hail signal 1.5" ≈ ping-pong ball · the largest NEXRAD radar signature
Homes in the hail footprint 116,410
Ground reports 5 5 wind
Radar surfaces 2 NEXRAD + estimated size
Convective day · Jul 3, 2026 · noon–noon UTC
Severity
The 2nd most severe storm Chicago has seen in the last 12 months
Composite score · 6.0 / 10
Storm severity score
Overview's storm severity score weighs hailstone size, homes in the footprint, and ground-truth reports.
6.0 /10
- Peak hail signal
- 38 /100
- Homes exposed
- 100 /100
- Ground truth
- 83 /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 Chicago saw the hail — from two instruments
Jul 3, 2026 · Chicago, IL
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 Surface resolved
Radar signature field 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
1.5"
Detections
53
Radar-estimated hail size Surface resolved
Estimated size field 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
0.75"
The storm in context
Where Jul 3, 2026 sits in Chicago's hail record.
This was Chicago's 5th recorded hail day, arriving 1 day after the Jul 2, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 2nd of the 7 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Chicago at 1.5" — the largest NEXRAD radar signature.
The Jul 3, 2026 convective day was bigger than Chicago: the same system put hail over 1,885 other tracked cities, 215 of them in Illinois. Nearest: Oak Park (5 miles west, up to 1"); Berkeley (10 miles west, up to 1.25"); Melrose Park (10 miles west, up to 1.25").
These maps are stills. In the app this date is one of 7 Chicago 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
5 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
5 reports Wind gust 67 mph
2 NE Navy Pier LMZ741 County
“Measured at the Harrison Dever Crib. (LOT)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Wind gust 64 mph
1 ESE Lakeview - Chicag Cook County
“Peak wind gust of 64 mph measured on a personal weather station. (LOT)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Wind gust 66 mph
1 W Navy Pier Cook County
“Peak wind gust of 66.2 mph measured on personal weather station. (LOT)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Wind gust 71 mph
2 NNW Chicago Loop Cook County
“Peak wind gust of 71 mph measured on personal weather station. (LOT)”
— 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.
Hail was reported over 12 minutes, from to .
Reports came from Midway Airport, Navy Pier, Lakeview - Chicag, and Chicago Loop — beyond Chicago itself.
High damage potential
What 1.5" hail means for Chicago 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.
116,410 homes × $12,000 avg. claim
Potential roof exposure
$1.4B
Potential roof exposure — 116,410 homes × the ~$12,000 industry-average hail roof claim. Exposure, not confirmed damage.
- Illustrative jobs
- 582 jobs
- Illustrative work
- ~$8.7M
Close just 0.5% of the 116,410 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 $24,446 on top of the $150 plan.
Chicago hail history
Other storms in Chicago.
7 recorded storm days in Chicago, IL
Estimated-size surface Storm date Chicago / IL
Aug 9, 2026
0.5" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Chicago / IL
Jul 27, 2026
2.75" Estimated 2.75"
15 ground reports Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Chicago / IL
Jul 2, 2026
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Chicago / IL
Jun 24, 2026
0.75" Estimated 0.75"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Chicago / IL
Apr 17, 2026
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Chicago / IL
Mar 30, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 0.5"
2 ground reports Open report →
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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 Aug 10, 2026.