Wind gust 70 mph
Waterville Marshall County
“Estimated 60 to 80 mph wind gusts in Waterville. (TOP)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
/ Storm field report · Marshall
Hail in Blue Rapids · May 16, 2026
NEXRAD logged 0 hail signatures up to 0"; the estimated-size surface reached 0" aloft. Open it on the live map to see the swath over the streets.
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Peak hail signal 0" ≈ pea to penny · radar-estimated size aloft
Homes in the hail footprint 0
Ground reports 1 1 wind
Radar surfaces 2 NEXRAD + estimated size
Convective day · May 16, 2026 · noon–noon UTC
Severity
The 16th most severe storm Blue Rapids has seen in the last 12 months
Composite score · 0.2 / 10
Storm severity score
Overview's storm severity score weighs hailstone size, homes in the footprint, and ground-truth reports.
0.2 /10
- Peak hail signal
- 0 /100
- Homes exposed
- 0 /100
- Ground truth
- 17 /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 Blue Rapids saw the hail — from two instruments
May 16, 2026 · Blue Rapids, KS
Two instruments, one storm: NEXRAD logs the point signatures it detected overhead, while the estimated-size surface models how large the hail aloft could have grown. Agreement between them is not guaranteed — the gaps are where the model ran ahead of, or behind, the detections.
NEXRAD radar signatures Surface resolved
Radar signature field NEXRAD's hail signatures for this storm: the spots the radar detected from above. A detection overhead is not the same thing as a confirmed stone below.
Max size
0"
Detections
0
Radar-estimated hail size Surface resolved
Estimated size field Radar-estimated maximum hail size across the swath, modeled from radar aloft. It reflects the biggest stone the storm could support, which may differ from what actually fell.
Max size
0"
The storm in context
Where May 16, 2026 sits in Blue Rapids's hail record.
This was Blue Rapids's 4th recorded hail day, arriving 23 days after the Apr 23, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 16th of the 17 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Blue Rapids at 0" — radar-estimated size aloft.
The May 16, 2026 convective day was bigger than Blue Rapids: the same system put hail over 711 other tracked cities, 98 of them in Kansas. Nearest: Frankfort (5 miles east, up to 0"); Waterville (11 miles northwest, up to 0"); Barnes (16 miles west, up to 0").
These maps are stills. In the app this date is one of 17 Blue Rapids 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
1 report 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.
Wind reports
1 reportStorm 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 Waterville — beyond Blue Rapids itself.
Below the severe threshold
What 0" hail means for Blue Rapids 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
Blue Rapids hail history
Other storms in Blue Rapids.
17 recorded storm days in Blue Rapids, KS
Estimated-size surface Storm date Blue Rapids / KS
Sep 19, 2026
1" Estimated 1"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Blue Rapids / KS
Sep 12, 2026
1" Estimated 1"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Blue Rapids / KS
Sep 11, 2026
0.5" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Blue Rapids / KS
Aug 18, 2026
1.25" Estimated 1.25"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Blue Rapids / KS
Aug 14, 2026
0.5" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Blue Rapids / KS
Aug 6, 2026
0.5" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Blue Rapids / KS
Jul 8, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 0.75"
1 ground report Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Blue Rapids / KS
Jul 3, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Blue Rapids / KS
Jun 13, 2026
1.75" Estimated 1.75"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Blue Rapids / KS
Jun 4, 2026
0.5" Signatures 0.5"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Blue Rapids / KS
May 29, 2026
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Blue Rapids / KS
May 18, 2026
1.75" Signatures 1.75" Estimated 1.25"
2 ground reports Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Blue Rapids / KS
May 17, 2026
1" Signatures 1"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Blue Rapids / KS
Apr 23, 2026
1.75" Signatures 1.75" Estimated 0.75"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Blue Rapids / KS
Apr 9, 2026
1.75" Signatures 1.75" Estimated 1"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Blue Rapids / KS
Mar 5, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 0.75"
No ground reports filed Open report →
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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 Sep 20, 2026.