Hail size 1.25"
Milford Iroquois County
“Photo relayed by social media depicts hail up ranging in size from 1 to 1.25 inches in diameter. (LOT)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail in Watseka Jul 27, 2026
Hit 7 days agoBoth radar surfaces caught this storm: NEXRAD logged 0 hail signatures up to 0", and the radar-estimated size reached 1.75" aloft.
Largest hailstone
1.75"
≈ golf ball · radar-estimated size aloft Homes in the hail footprint
5,923
Ground reports
4
4 hailThe most severe storm Watseka 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.
5.5 /10
- Hail size
- 44 /100
- Homes exposed
- 75 /100
- Ground truth
- 67 /100
Largest hailstone — the top predictor of roof damage.
How many homes sit inside the storm's footprint.
Independent storm reports filed with the NWS.
How Watseka 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.
NEXRAD radar signatures
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.
Max size
0"
Detections
0
Radar-estimated hail size
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
1.75"
Where Jul 27, 2026 sits in Watseka's hail record
This was Watseka's 3rd recorded hail day, arriving 105 days after the Apr 13, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 1st of the 3 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Watseka at 1.75" — radar-estimated size aloft.
The Jul 27, 2026 convective day was bigger than Watseka: the same system put hail over 803 other tracked cities, 130 of them in Illinois. Nearest: Milford (10 miles south, up to 1.5"); Martinton (11 miles north, up to 1.75"); Cissna Park (13 miles southwest, up to 1.5").
These maps are stills from Watseka's Jul 27, 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.
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.
Hail reports
4 reports Hail size 2.5"
3 W Woodland Iroquois County
“Photo relayed by broadcast media shows hail up to the size of a tennis ball. Time estimated by radar. (LOT)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail size 2.75"
Woodland Iroquois County
“Photo relayed via social media shows hailstone slightly larger than a baseball. Time estimated by radar. (LOT)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail size 1.75"
Watseka Iroquois County
“Multiple reports of hail quarter to golf ball size in Watseka. (LOT)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Storm forensics
Read from the arrival times and locations of the NOAA ground reports,
not a radar-measured storm track.
How the storm moved
Hail was reported over 18 minutes, from to .
Reports came from Milford and Woodland — beyond Watseka itself.
What 1.75" hail means for Watseka 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
$71M
Potential roof exposure — 5,923 homes × the ~$12,000 industry-average hail roof claim. Exposure, not confirmed damage.
Illustrative jobs
30 jobs
Illustrative work
~$450K
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 Watseka on the live map
Radar updates in real time, spotter reports appear on the map as they're filed, and the full Watseka storm history — this Jul 27, 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
Watseka hail history
← All hail in Watseka 3 recorded storm days in Watseka, IL
Other storms in Watseka
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.