Tornado Rating unknown
1 N Wakefield Clay County
“NWS employee confirmed a brief tornado just north of Wakefield. (TOP)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
/ Storm field report · Ottawa
Hail in Clay Center · May 18, 2026
NEXRAD logged 263 hail signatures up to 3.5"; the estimated-size surface reached 2" aloft. At 3.5" — baseball — this is a severe hail signal associated with roof damage. 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 3.5" ≈ baseball · the largest NEXRAD radar signature
Homes in the hail footprint 2,809
Ground reports 7 5 hail · 2 tornado
Radar surfaces 2 NEXRAD + estimated size
Convective day · May 18, 2026 · noon–noon UTC
Severity
The most severe storm Clay Center has seen in the last 12 months
Composite score · 8.5 / 10
Storm severity score
Overview's storm severity score weighs hailstone size, homes in the footprint, and ground-truth reports.
8.5 /10
- Peak hail signal
- 88 /100
- Homes exposed
- 69 /100
- Ground truth
- 100 /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 Clay Center saw the hail — from two instruments
May 18, 2026 · Clay Center, KS
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 Surface resolved
Radar signature field 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 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
2"
The storm in context
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 21 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: Longford (7 miles south, up to 2.5"); Wakefield (11 miles southeast, up to 2.75"); Clifton (14 miles north, up to 3.5").
These maps are stills. In the app this date is one of 21 Clay Center 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
7 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
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
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.
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.
Severe hail signal
What 3.5" hail means for Clay Center roofs.
Two-inch-plus hail is capable of puncturing shingles, breaking skylights or windows, and heavily denting soft materials. The strongest radar bands warrant prompt inspection, but neither the signal nor the footprint confirms damage at a specific address.
Radar reading · not confirmed damage
Roofing exposure
What this storm is worth to a roofer.
2,809 homes × $12,000 avg. claim
Potential roof exposure
$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
Close just 0.5% of the 2,809 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 $590 on top of the $150 plan.
Clay Center hail history
Other storms in Clay Center.
21 recorded storm days in Clay Center, KS
Estimated-size surface Storm date Clay Center / KS
Sep 19, 2026
1.5" Estimated 1.5"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Clay Center / KS
Sep 12, 2026
1.75" Estimated 1.75"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Clay Center / KS
Aug 15, 2026
0.75" Estimated 0.75"
1 ground report Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Clay Center / KS
Aug 14, 2026
0.5" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Clay Center / KS
Aug 6, 2026
1.25" Estimated 1.25"
No ground reports filed Open report →
NEXRAD surface Storm date Clay Center / KS
Jul 30, 2026
1" Signatures 1"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Clay Center / KS
Jul 27, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Clay Center / KS
Jul 3, 2026
1.75" Signatures 1.75" Estimated 1"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Clay Center / KS
Jun 13, 2026
1.5" Estimated 1.5"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Clay Center / KS
Jun 8, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Clay Center / KS
Jun 4, 2026
1.5" Signatures 1.5" Estimated 0.75"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Clay Center / KS
May 29, 2026
1.75" Signatures 1.75" Estimated 1"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Clay Center / KS
May 17, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 0.75"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Clay Center / KS
May 16, 2026
1 ground report Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Clay Center / KS
May 14, 2026
2.5" Signatures 2.5" Estimated 1"
5 ground reports Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Clay Center / KS
Apr 26, 2026
1" Signatures 1"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Clay Center / KS
Apr 25, 2026
1.75" Signatures 1.75" Estimated 1"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Clay Center / KS
Apr 10, 2026
0.75" Signatures 0.75"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Clay Center / KS
Mar 6, 2026
1.25" Signatures 1.25" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Clay Center / KS
Mar 5, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 0.5"
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.