Hail in Island Lake · May 15, 2026
Convective day · May 15, 2026 · noon–noon UTC
Severity
The 2nd most severe storm Island Lake has seen in the last 12 months
Overview's storm severity score weighs hailstone size, homes in the footprint, and ground-truth reports.
- Peak hail signal
- 25 /100
- Homes exposed
- 0 /100
- Ground truth
- 0 /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 Island Lake saw the hail — from two instruments
We map this storm two ways: the NEXRAD radar signatures the storm produced overhead, and the radar-estimated size of the hail in the air. The two surfaces don’t have to match — where they diverge is where estimated size aloft ran ahead of, or behind, what the signatures caught.
Radar signature field NEXRAD radar signatures — the point detections the storm produced overhead. A signature is where the radar saw hail, not a confirmed stone on the ground.
Only the NEXRAD radar-signature surface resolved for May 15, 2026 — the estimated-size swath had no hail signal to model for this storm, so there is one map to show, not two.
The storm in context
Where May 15, 2026 sits in Island Lake's hail record.
This was Island Lake's 2nd recorded hail day, arriving 28 days after the Apr 17, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 2nd of the 3 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Island Lake at 1" — the largest NEXRAD radar signature.
The May 15, 2026 convective day was bigger than Island Lake: the same system put hail over 444 other tracked cities, 20 of them in Illinois. Nearest: Grayslake (5 miles east, up to 1"); Mchenry (5 miles west, up to 1"); Libertyville (13 miles east, up to 1.75").
These maps are stills. In the app this date is one of 3 Island Lake 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
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.
No ground reports were filed with the National Weather Service for this storm over Island Lake. That is common: a report depends on someone being there to see it and take the time to call it in. The radar surfaces above are the record here — the storm was detected from above even though no one on the ground logged it.
Damage-capable hail signal
What 1" hail means for Island Lake 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
Island Lake hail history
Other storms in Island Lake.
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