Hail size 1.5"
1 ENE Peabody Whitley County
“Measured just over 1.5 inch hail stone. (IWX)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
/ Storm field report · Whitley
Hail in Columbia City · Feb 18, 2026
The estimated-size surface reached 1" aloft; NEXRAD logged no point detections over Columbia City that day. Open it on the live map to see the swath over the streets.
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Peak hail signal 1" ≈ quarter · radar-estimated size aloft
Homes in the hail footprint 3,080
Ground reports 3 3 hail
Radar surfaces 1 Estimated size only
Convective day · Feb 18, 2026 · noon–noon UTC
Severity
The most severe storm Columbia City has seen in the last 12 months
Composite score · 4.0 / 10
Storm severity score
Overview's storm severity score weighs hailstone size, homes in the footprint, and ground-truth reports.
4.0 /10
- Peak hail signal
- 25 /100
- Homes exposed
- 70 /100
- Ground truth
- 50 /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 Columbia City saw the hail — from two instruments
Feb 18, 2026 · Columbia City, IN
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-estimated hail size Surface resolved
Estimated size field Maximum hail size as estimated from radar aloft. Treat it as the storm's ceiling — the largest supportable stone — rather than a ground measurement.
Max size
1"
Only the radar-estimated size surface resolved for Feb 18, 2026 — this storm produced no NEXRAD point detections over Columbia City, so there is one map to show, not two.
The storm in context
Where Feb 18, 2026 sits in Columbia City's hail record.
This was Columbia City's 1st recorded hail day — the first hail day in our records for the city. By severity it ranks 1st of the 5 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Columbia City at 1" — radar-estimated size aloft.
The Feb 18, 2026 convective day was bigger than Columbia City: the same system put hail over 19 other tracked cities, 11 of them in Indiana. Nearest: South Whitley (10 miles west, up to 0.75"); North Manchester (20 miles west, up to 0.5"); Fort Wayne (21 miles east, up to 0.75").
These maps are stills. In the app this date is one of 5 Columbia City 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
3 reports 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.
Hail reports
3 reports Hail size 1.25"
1 S Peabody Whitley County
“Time estimated by radar. (IWX)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail size 1"
2 WNW Coesse Whitley County
“Off duty NWS employee reporting lots of mainly pea size hail with a few larger pieces of nickel to quarter size noted. (IWX)”
— 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 Peabody and Coesse — beyond Columbia City itself.
Damage-capable hail signal
What 1" hail means for Columbia City 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.
3,080 homes × $12,000 avg. claim
Potential roof exposure
$37M
Potential roof exposure — 3,080 homes × the ~$12,000 industry-average hail roof claim. Exposure, not confirmed damage.
- Illustrative jobs
- 15 jobs
- Illustrative work
- ~$225K
Close just 0.5% of the 3,080 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
February 2028
Claims from this storm can typically be filed until around February 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 $647 on top of the $150 plan.
Columbia City hail history
Other storms in Columbia City.
5 recorded storm days in Columbia City, IN
Estimated-size surface Storm date Columbia City / IN
Aug 10, 2026
0.5" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed Open report →
NEXRAD surface Storm date Columbia City / IN
Apr 13, 2026
0.75" Signatures 0.75"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Columbia City / IN
Mar 31, 2026
1.25" Signatures 1.25" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed Open report →
NEXRAD surface Storm date Columbia City / IN
Mar 26, 2026
1" Signatures 1"
No ground reports filed Open report →
The next storm won’t wait for you.
Set your territory and alerts today. When hail hits, use Overview to choose your streets and get moving.
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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 11, 2026.