Hail in Lacon · May 15, 2026
Convective day · May 15, 2026 · noon–noon UTC
Severity
The 4th most severe storm Lacon 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
- 0 /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 Lacon 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.
Radar signature field 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.
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 Lacon's hail record.
This was Lacon's 4th recorded hail day, arriving 11 days after the May 4, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 4th of the 6 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Lacon at 0" — radar-estimated size aloft.
The May 15, 2026 convective day was bigger than Lacon: the same system put hail over 444 other tracked cities, 20 of them in Illinois. Nearest: Magnolia (13 miles northeast, up to 1"); Wenona (17 miles northeast, up to 1"); Rutland (21 miles east, up to 0.5").
These maps are stills. In the app this date is one of 6 Lacon 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.
Nobody on the ground filed a report over Lacon for this date, which says more about who was watching than about the storm: spotter reports only exist where there is an observer. The radar surfaces above carry the evidence for this one.
Below the severe threshold
What 0" hail means for Lacon roofs.
Radar signals under three-quarters of an inch stay below the National Weather Service severe threshold and generally indicate lower roof risk. Older or already-worn materials can still show effects, but radar alone cannot determine whether a specific roof was damaged.
Radar reading · not confirmed damage
Estimated-size surface Jul 18, 2026
0.5"
Estimated-size surface Jun 5, 2026
Estimated-size surface May 4, 2026
0.5"
NEXRAD surface Apr 17, 2026
Estimated-size surface Mar 10, 2026
1.75"The next storm won’t wait for you.
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