Tornado Rating unknown
1 N Wakefield Clay County
“NWS employee confirmed a brief tornado just north of Wakefield. (TOP)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail in Clay Center May 18, 2026
Both radar surfaces caught this storm: NEXRAD logged 263 hail signatures up to 3.5", and the radar-estimated size reached 2" aloft. At 3.5" — baseball — this is severe, roof-replacing hail: close to every roof inside the footprint becomes a claim candidate.
A tornado was also reported to the National Weather Service during this storm — see the ground reports below.
Largest hailstone
3.5"
≈ baseball · the largest NEXRAD radar signature Homes in the hail footprint
2,809
Ground reports
7
5 hail · 2 tornadoThe most severe storm Clay Center 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.
8.5 /10
- Hail size
- 88 /100
- Homes exposed
- 69 /100
- Ground truth
- 100 /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 Clay Center saw the hail — from two instruments
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.
NEXRAD radar signatures
NEXRAD radar signatures — the point detections the storm produced overhead. A signature is where the radar saw hail, not a confirmed stone on the ground.
Max size
3.5"
Detections
263
Radar-estimated hail size
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
2"
Where May 18, 2026 sits in Clay Center's hail record
This was Clay Center's 9th recorded hail day, arriving 1 day after the May 17, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 1st of the 16 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Clay Center at 3.5" — the largest NEXRAD radar signature.
The May 18, 2026 convective day was bigger than Clay Center: the same system put hail over 726 other tracked cities, 258 of them in Kansas. Nearest: Morganville (11 miles north, up to 3.5"); Wakefield (11 miles south, up to 2.75"); Longford (12 miles southwest, up to 2.5").
These maps are stills from Clay Center's May 18, 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.
Tornado reports
2 reports Tornado Rating unknown
5 WSW Idana Clay County
“DELAYED REPORT of a rope tornado near Idana at 3:30. Photos sent via social media. (TOP)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail reports
5 reports Hail size 1"
4 E Morganville Clay County
“Report from mPING: Quarter (1.00 in.). (TOP)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail size 1.25"
2 E Morganville Clay County
“Report from mPING: Half Dollar (1.25 in.). (TOP)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail size 1"
3 NE Miltonvale Cloud County
“Report from mPING: Quarter (1.00 in.). (TOP)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail size 1"
1 NE Miltonvale Cloud County
“Report from mPING: Quarter (1.00 in.). (TOP)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail size 1"
Miltonvale Cloud County
“(TOP)”
— 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
The storm tracked east at roughly 10 mph, based on the timing of ground reports.
Hail was reported over 120 minutes, from to .
Reports came from Morganville, Miltonvale, Wakefield, and Idana — beyond Clay Center itself.
What 3.5" hail means for Clay Center roofs
Two-inch-plus hail punctures shingles, breaks skylights and windows, and dents anything soft. In the core of a footprint like this, close to every roof is a candidate for an insurance claim. Speed decides who writes those jobs.
What this storm is worth to a roofer
$34M
Potential roof exposure — 2,809 homes × the ~$12,000 industry-average hail roof claim. Exposure, not confirmed damage.
Illustrative jobs
14 jobs
Illustrative work
~$210K
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.
Track hail over Clay Center on the live map
Radar updates in real time, spotter reports appear on the map as they're filed, and the full Clay Center storm history — this May 18, 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
Clay Center hail history
← All hail in Clay Center 16 recorded storm days in Clay Center, KS
Other storms in Clay Center
Jul 30, 2026
1" Signatures 1"
No ground reports filed 
Jul 27, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed 
Jul 3, 2026
1.75" Signatures 1.75" Estimated 1"
No ground reports filed 
Jun 13, 2026
1.5" Estimated 1.5"
No ground reports filed 
Jun 8, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed 
Jun 4, 2026
1.5" Signatures 1.5" Estimated 0.75"
No ground reports filed 
May 29, 2026
1.75" Signatures 1.75" Estimated 1"
No ground reports filed 
May 17, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 0.75"
No ground reports filed 
May 16, 2026
May 14, 2026
2.5" Signatures 2.5" Estimated 1"
5
ground reports 
Apr 26, 2026
1" Signatures 1"
No ground reports filed 
Apr 25, 2026
1.75" Signatures 1.75" Estimated 1"
No ground reports filed 
Apr 10, 2026
0.75" Signatures 0.75"
No ground reports filed 
Mar 6, 2026
1.25" Signatures 1.25" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed 
Mar 5, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed
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.