Storm report · Reno

Hail in Hutchinson May 18, 2026

Both radar surfaces caught this storm: NEXRAD logged 84 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.

Largest hailstone

3.5"

≈ baseball · the largest NEXRAD radar signature
Homes in the hail footprint

14,989

Ground reports

8

5 hail · 3 wind
Severity

The most severe storm Hutchinson 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.

8.8 /10
Hail size
88 /100

Largest hailstone — the top predictor of roof damage.

Homes exposed
84 /100

How many homes sit inside the storm's footprint.

Ground truth
100 /100

Independent storm reports filed with the NWS.

Two ways to read the storm

How Hutchinson saw the hail — from two instruments

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
NEXRAD radar-signature map of the hail storm over Hutchinson, KS on May 18, 2026

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 3.5" Detections 84
Radar-estimated hail size
Radar-estimated hail-size map of the storm over Hutchinson, KS on May 18, 2026

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 2"
The storm in context

Where May 18, 2026 sits in Hutchinson's hail record

This was Hutchinson's 8th recorded hail day, arriving 1 day after the May 17, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 1st of the 15 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Hutchinson at 3.5" — the largest NEXRAD radar signature.

The May 18, 2026 convective day was bigger than Hutchinson: the same system put hail over 726 other tracked cities, 258 of them in Kansas. Nearest: Partridge (8 miles west, up to 2"); Nickerson (11 miles northwest, up to 2.75"); Haven (11 miles southeast, up to 1.5").

These maps are stills from Hutchinson'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.

Ground reports

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.

Hail reports

5 reports
Hail size 1"
1 NNE Hutchinson Reno County

“(ICT)”

— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail size 1"
1 N Hutchinson Reno County

“Report from mPING: Quarter (1.00 in.). (ICT)”

— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail size 1.5"
2 WNW Hutchinson Reno County

“(ICT)”

— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail size 1.25"
2 WNW Hutchinson Reno County

“Twitter report. (ICT)”

— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail size 1"
Haven Reno County

“Facebook Report. (ICT)”

— NOAA / SPC storm report

Wind reports

3 reports
Wind gust 65 mph
4 NE Hutchinson Reno County

“Public report estimated near 70 mph winds ahead of the main line of storms. (ICT)”

— NOAA / SPC storm report
Wind gust 70 mph
3 SSE Willowbrook Reno County

“(ICT)”

— NOAA / SPC storm report
Wind gust 59 mph
7 WNW Haven Reno County

“(ICT)”

— NOAA / SPC storm report
Storm forensics

How the storm moved

The storm tracked southeast at roughly 10 mph, based on the timing of ground reports.

Hail was reported over 95 minutes, from to .

Reports came from Haven and Willowbrook — beyond Hutchinson itself.

Read from the arrival times and locations of the NOAA ground reports, not a radar-measured storm track.
Severe, roof-replacing hail

What 3.5" hail means for Hutchinson 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

$180M

Potential roof exposure — 14,989 homes × the ~$12,000 industry-average hail roof claim. Exposure, not confirmed damage.
Illustrative jobs
75 jobs
Illustrative work
~$1.1M
Close just 0.5% of the 14,989 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.
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 Hutchinson on the live map

Radar updates in real time, spotter reports appear on the map as they're filed, and the full Hutchinson 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

Hutchinson hail history

15 recorded storm days in Hutchinson, KS

← All hail in Hutchinson

Other storms in Hutchinson

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.