Hail in Mendota · Mar 31, 2026
Convective day · Mar 31, 2026 · noon–noon UTC
Severity
The 7th most severe storm Mendota 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
- 13 /100
- Homes exposed
- 24 /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 Mendota 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.
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.
The storm in context
Where Mar 31, 2026 sits in Mendota's hail record.
This was Mendota's 2nd recorded hail day, arriving 21 days after the Mar 10, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 7th of the 7 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Mendota at 0.5" — the largest NEXRAD radar signature.
The Mar 31, 2026 convective day was bigger than Mendota: the same system put hail over 522 other tracked cities, 114 of them in Illinois. Nearest: Earlville (8 miles southeast, up to 1.75"); Paw Paw (11 miles north, up to 1.75"); Ottawa (15 miles southeast, up to 1.25").
These maps are stills. In the app this date is one of 7 Mendota 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.
The National Weather Service logged no spotter reports for this storm over Mendota. That absence is ordinary — filing a report takes a person on the spot who saw the hail and phoned it in. What stands as the record for this date is the radar above, which caught the storm regardless.
Below the severe threshold
What 0.5" hail means for Mendota 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
Roofing exposure
What this storm is worth to a roofer.
Potential roof exposure
$168K
Potential roof exposure — 14 homes × the ~$12,000 industry-average hail roof claim. Exposure, not confirmed damage.
Claim window
March 2028
Claims from this storm can typically be filed until around March 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 $3 on top of the $150 plan.
Mendota hail history
Other storms in Mendota.
Estimated-size surface Aug 21, 2026
1.25"
Estimated-size surface Aug 11, 2026
1.25"
Estimated-size surface Jul 4, 2026
1.5"
Estimated-size surface Jul 3, 2026
1"
Estimated-size surface Apr 2, 2026
1"
Estimated-size surface Mar 10, 2026
1"The next storm won’t wait for you.
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