/ Storm field report · Cook

Hail in Des Plaines · Jul 27, 2026

The estimated-size surface reached 1.25" aloft; NEXRAD logged no point detections over Des Plaines that day. Open it on the live map to see the swath over the streets.

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Peak hail signal 1.25" ≈ half-dollar · radar-estimated size aloft
Homes in the hail footprint 47,437
Ground reports 1 1 wind
Radar surfaces 1 Estimated size only

Convective day · Jul 27, 2026 · noon–noon UTC

Severity

The most severe storm Des Plaines has seen in the last 12 months

Composite score · 4.5 / 10
Storm severity score

Overview's storm severity score weighs hailstone size, homes in the footprint, and ground-truth reports.

4.5 /10
Peak hail signal
31 /100

Largest radar-indicated size — a signal of damage potential, not confirmation.

Homes exposed
94 /100

How many homes sit inside the storm's footprint.

Ground truth
17 /100

Independent storm reports filed with the NWS.

Evidence / storm surfaces

How Des Plaines saw the hail — from two instruments

Jul 27, 2026 · Des Plaines, IL

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 Surface resolved
Radar-estimated hail-size map of the storm over Des Plaines, IL on Jul 27, 2026 Estimated size field

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 1.25"

Only the radar-estimated size surface resolved for Jul 27, 2026 — this storm produced no NEXRAD point detections over Des Plaines, so there is one map to show, not two.

The storm in context

Where Jul 27, 2026 sits in Des Plaines's hail record.

This was Des Plaines's 3rd recorded hail day, arriving 25 days after the Jul 2, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 1st of the 3 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Des Plaines at 1.25" — radar-estimated size aloft.

The Jul 27, 2026 convective day was bigger than Des Plaines: the same system put hail over 803 other tracked cities, 130 of them in Illinois. Nearest: Elk Grove Village (5 miles west, up to 1.75"); Berkeley (7 miles south, up to 1.75"); Melrose Park (7 miles south, up to 1.75").

These maps are stills. In the app this date is one of 3 Des Plaines 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

1 report 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

1 report
Wind gust 62 mph
1 NE Bensenville DuPage County

“ASOS site ORD Chicago Ohare Airport reported 62 mph peak gust. (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.

Reports came from Bensenville — beyond Des Plaines itself.

Damage-capable hail signal

What 1.25" hail means for Des Plaines roofs.

Quarter-size and larger hail can bruise asphalt mats, remove granules, and dent exposed soft metal. The mapped footprint identifies an inspection priority area — it does not identify which individual roofs, if any, sustained damage.

Radar reading · not confirmed damage

Roofing exposure

What this storm is worth to a roofer.

47,437 homes × $12,000 avg. claim

Potential roof exposure

$569M

Potential roof exposure — 47,437 homes × the ~$12,000 industry-average hail roof claim. Exposure, not confirmed damage.

Illustrative jobs
237 jobs
Illustrative work
~$3.6M

Close just 0.5% of the 47,437 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 $9,962 on top of the $150 plan.

Des Plaines hail history

3 recorded storm days in Des Plaines, IL

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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 3, 2026.