Storm report · Cook

Hail in Chicago Jul 27, 2026

Hit 7 days ago

Both radar surfaces caught this storm: NEXRAD logged 0 hail signatures up to 0", and the radar-estimated size reached 2.75" aloft. At 2.75" — baseball — this is severe, roof-replacing hail: close to every roof inside the footprint becomes a claim candidate.

See Chicago on the live hail map → Book a 15-min demo

Largest hailstone

2.75"

≈ baseball · radar-estimated size aloft

Homes in the hail footprint

981,071

Ground reports

7 hail · 8 wind

Severity

The most severe storm Chicago 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.

8.1 /10

Hail size: 69 /100
Homes exposed: 100 /100
Ground truth: 100 /100

Two ways to read the storm

How Chicago 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.

NEXRAD radar-signature map of the hail storm over Chicago, IL on Jul 27, 2026 — 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 map of the storm over Chicago, IL on Jul 27, 2026 — 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 2.75"

The storm in context

Where Jul 27, 2026 sits in Chicago's hail record

This was Chicago's 6th recorded hail day, arriving 24 days after the Jul 3, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 1st of the 6 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Chicago at 2.75" — radar-estimated size aloft.

The Jul 27, 2026 convective day was bigger than Chicago: the same system put hail over 803 other tracked cities, 130 of them in Illinois. Nearest: Berwyn (6 miles southwest, up to 1.5"); Oak Park (6 miles northwest, up to 1.5"); Western Springs (11 miles west, up to 2.25").

These maps are stills from Chicago's Jul 27, 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.

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.

Hail reports

7 reports

Hail size 1"

1 NW Oak Lawn Cook County

5:50 PM UTC

“Relayed via mping. Time estimated by radar. (LOT)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report

Hail size 1.5"

1 E La Grange Park Cook County

5:01 PM UTC

“Relayed via mping. (LOT)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report

Hail size 1"

1 SSW Merrionette Park Cook County

5:46 PM UTC

“Photo of hail in Alsip. Time estimated by radar. (LOT)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report

Hail size 1"

1 SW Evergreen Park Cook County

5:51 PM UTC

“Relayed via mping. Time estimated by radar. (LOT)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report

Hail size 1.25"

1 W Northerly Island Cook County

6:00 PM UTC

“Relayed via mping. (LOT)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report

Hail size 1.5"

1 E Greater Grand Cross Cook County

6:17 PM UTC

“Relayed via mping. Time estimated by radar. (LOT)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report

Hail size 1"

1 NW West Ridge - Chica Cook County

6:37 PM UTC

“A brief period of 1-inch diameter hail near Kedzie and Touhy. Time estimated from radar. (LOT)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report

Wind reports

8 reports

Wind gust 66 mph

1 S Palos Park Cook County

5:51 PM UTC

“Private weather station KILPALOS2 reported 66 mph gust. (LOT)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report

Wind gust 74 mph

Midway Airport Cook County

6:10 PM UTC

“(LOT)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report

Wind gust 74 mph

3.0 SW Midway Airport Cook County

5:40 PM UTC

“Also observed nickel sized hail and 2.83 inches of rainfall. (LOT)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report

Wind gust 64 mph

3 NE Navy Pier LMZ741 County

9:34 PM UTC

“Peak gust of 56 knots at the Harrison-Dever Crib 3 miles offshore from Chicago. (LOT)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report

Wind gust 74 mph

3 NE Navy Pier LMZ741 County

5:58 PM UTC

“Peak gust of 65 kt the Chicago Harrison-Dever Crib 3 miles offshore of Chicago. (LOT)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report

Wind gust 62 mph

Lakeview - Chicago Cook County

5:59 PM UTC

“Private weather station KILCHICA1037 reported 62 mph gust. (LOT)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report

Wind gust 63 mph

Lakeview - Chicago Cook County

9:39 PM UTC

“Private weather station KILCHICA1231 reported 63 mph gust. (LOT)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report

Wind gust 59 mph

North Park - Chicago Cook County

5:49 PM UTC

“Private weather station KILCHICA929 reported 59 mph gust. (LOT)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report

Storm forensics

How the storm moved

Hail was reported over 278 minutes, from 5:01 PM UTC to 9:39 PM UTC .

Reports came from Oak Lawn, La Grange Park, Merrionette Park, Evergreen Park, Northerly Island, and Greater Grand Cross — beyond Chicago itself.

Read from the arrival times and locations of the NOAA ground reports, not a radar-measured storm track.

Severe, roof-replacing hail

What 2.75" hail means for Chicago roofs

Two-inch-plus hail punctures shingles, breaks skylights and windows, and dents anything soft. In the core of a footprint like this, close to every roof is a candidate for an insurance claim. Speed decides who writes those jobs.

What this storm is worth to a roofer

$12B

Potential roof exposure — 981,071 homes × the ~$12,000 industry-average hail roof claim. Exposure, not confirmed damage.

Illustrative jobs

4,905 jobs

Illustrative work

~$74M

Close just 0.5% of the 981,071 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.

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.

Track hail over Chicago on the live map

Radar updates in real time, spotter reports appear on the map as they're filed, and the full Chicago storm history — this Jul 27, 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.

Reach 981,071 affected homes → Book a 15-min demo

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

Chicago hail history

6 recorded storm days in Chicago, IL

← All hail in Chicago

Other storms in Chicago

Jul 3, 2026

1.5"

View storm →

Signatures 1.5" Estimated 0.75"

5 ground reports

Jul 2, 2026

View storm → No ground reports filed

Jun 24, 2026

0.75"

View storm →

Estimated 0.75"

No ground reports filed

Apr 17, 2026

View storm → No ground reports filed

Mar 30, 2026

View storm →

Signatures 1" Estimated 0.5"

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.