Storm report · Clay

Hail in Clay City Jul 3, 2026

Hit 31 days ago

Both radar surfaces caught this storm: NEXRAD logged 24 hail signatures up to 1.75", and the radar-estimated size reached 1" aloft.

Largest hailstone

1.75"

≈ golf ball · the largest NEXRAD radar signature
Homes in the hail footprint

279

Ground reports

0

none filed
Severity

The 4th most severe storm Clay City 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.

3.8 /10
Hail size
44 /100

Largest hailstone — the top predictor of roof damage.

Homes exposed
49 /100

How many homes sit inside the storm's footprint.

Ground truth
0 /100

Independent storm reports filed with the NWS.

Two ways to read the storm

How Clay City 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 radar-signature map of the hail storm over Clay City, IL on Jul 3, 2026

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 1.75" Detections 24
Radar-estimated hail size
Radar-estimated hail-size map of the storm over Clay City, IL on Jul 3, 2026

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"
The storm in context

Where Jul 3, 2026 sits in Clay City's hail record

This was Clay City's 4th recorded hail day, arriving 61 days after the May 3, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 4th of the 6 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Clay City at 1.75" — the largest NEXRAD radar signature.

The Jul 3, 2026 convective day was bigger than Clay City: the same system put hail over 1,885 other tracked cities, 215 of them in Illinois. Nearest: Rinard (11 miles west, up to 2.25"); Flora (11 miles west, up to 1.75"); Cisne (13 miles southwest, up to 1.25").

These maps are stills from Clay City's Jul 3, 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.

For this storm over Clay City, the NWS report log is empty — a common outcome, since ground reports only happen when someone witnesses the hail and takes the time to call it in. The detection record for the date lives in the radar maps above.

Widespread claimable damage

What 1.75" hail means for Clay City roofs

At an inch and a half, hail cracks shingles, strips granules down to the mat, and dents gutters, vents, and siding. A footprint like this typically produces a wave of insurance claims — and the contractor who reaches the homeowner first usually gets the inspection.

What this storm is worth to a roofer

$3.3M

Potential roof exposure — 279 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 279 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 Clay City on the live map

Radar updates in real time, spotter reports appear on the map as they're filed, and the full Clay City storm history — this Jul 3, 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

Clay City hail history

6 recorded storm days in Clay City, IL

← All hail in Clay City

Other storms in Clay City

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.