Tornado Rating unknown
3 S Waterville Marshall County
“Multiple storm chasers confirm a tornado on the ground south of Waterville via social media. (TOP)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
/ Storm field report · Marshall
Hail in Blue Rapids · May 18, 2026
NEXRAD logged 42 hail signatures up to 1.75"; the estimated-size surface reached 1.25" aloft. Open it on the live map to see the swath over the streets.
A tornado was also reported to the National Weather Service during this storm. The ground reports below show where it was filed.
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Peak hail signal 1.75" ≈ golf ball · the largest NEXRAD radar signature
Homes in the hail footprint 320
Ground reports 2 2 tornado
Radar surfaces 2 NEXRAD + estimated size
Convective day · May 18, 2026 · noon–noon UTC
Severity
The most severe storm Blue Rapids has seen in the last 12 months
Composite score · 4.9 / 10
Storm severity score
Overview's storm severity score weighs hailstone size, homes in the footprint, and ground-truth reports.
4.9 /10
- Peak hail signal
- 44 /100
- Homes exposed
- 50 /100
- Ground truth
- 67 /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 18, 2026 · Blue Rapids, KS
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 Surface resolved
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.
Max size
1.75"
Detections
42
Radar-estimated hail size Surface resolved
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.
Max size
1.25"
The storm in context
Where May 18, 2026 sits in Blue Rapids's hail record.
This was Blue Rapids's 6th recorded hail day, arriving 1 day after the May 17, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 1st of the 17 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Blue Rapids at 1.75" — the largest NEXRAD radar signature.
The May 18, 2026 convective day was bigger than Blue Rapids: the same system put hail over 726 other tracked cities, 258 of them in Kansas. Nearest: Frankfort (5 miles east, up to 2.25"); Waterville (11 miles northwest, up to 2.5"); Randolph (11 miles southwest, up to 1.75").
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
2 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.
Tornado reports
2 reports Tornado Rating unknown
1 ENE Blue Rapids Marshall County
“Confirmation of a tornado. (TOP)”
— 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.
Hail was reported over 12 minutes, from to .
Reports came from Waterville — beyond Blue Rapids itself.
High damage potential
What 1.75" hail means for Blue Rapids roofs.
Hail around an inch and a half is capable of cracking shingles, stripping granules, and denting gutters, vents, and siding. Risk is usually greatest near the strongest radar signal, but property-level damage still requires an on-site inspection.
Radar reading · not confirmed damage
Roofing exposure
What this storm is worth to a roofer.
320 homes × $12,000 avg. claim
Potential roof exposure
$3.8M
Potential roof exposure — 320 homes × the ~$12,000 industry-average hail roof claim. Exposure, not confirmed damage.
- Illustrative jobs
- 2 jobs
- Illustrative work
- ~$30K
Close just 0.5% of the 320 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
May 2028
Claims from this storm can typically be filed until around May 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 $67 on top of the $150 plan.
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 17, 2026
1" Signatures 1"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Blue Rapids / KS
May 16, 2026
1 ground report 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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Set your territory and alerts today. When hail hits, use Overview to choose your streets and get moving.
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For iPhone. Android coming soon.
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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.