Tornado Rating unknown
3 WSW Sycamore Montgomery County
“tornado confirmed by spotter. (ICT)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail in Independence Apr 26, 2026
Both radar surfaces caught this storm: NEXRAD logged 1 hail signature up to 2.75", and the radar-estimated size reached 2.25" aloft. At 2.75" — 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
2.75"
≈ baseball · the largest NEXRAD radar signature Homes in the hail footprint
17
Ground reports
3
2 hail · 1 tornadoThe 2nd most severe storm Independence 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.
5.8 /10
- Hail size
- 69 /100
- Homes exposed
- 25 /100
- Ground truth
- 67 /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 Independence saw the hail — from two instruments
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
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
2.75"
Detections
1
Radar-estimated hail size
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
2.25"
Where Apr 26, 2026 sits in Independence's hail record
This was Independence's 5th recorded hail day, arriving 9 days after the Apr 17, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 2nd of the 13 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Independence at 2.75" — the largest NEXRAD radar signature.
The Apr 26, 2026 convective day was bigger than Independence: the same system put hail over 710 other tracked cities, 277 of them in Kansas. Nearest: Cherryvale (11 miles northeast, up to 2.5"); Elk City (13 miles northwest, up to 2.75"); Neodesha (14 miles north, up to 4").
These maps are stills from Independence's Apr 26, 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
1 reportHail reports
2 reports Hail size 2.5"
Sycamore Montgomery County
“(ICT)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail size 2.5"
Sycamore Montgomery County
“(ICT)”
— 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
Hail was reported over 15 minutes, from to .
Reports came from Sycamore — beyond Independence itself.
What 2.75" hail means for Independence 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
$204K
Potential roof exposure — 17 homes × the ~$12,000 industry-average hail roof claim. Exposure, not confirmed damage. Claims from this storm can typically be filed until around April 2028 — the window to reach these homeowners while it's still open. Deadlines vary by policy and state.
Track hail over Independence on the live map
Radar updates in real time, spotter reports appear on the map as they're filed, and the full Independence storm history — this Apr 26, 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
Independence hail history
← All hail in Independence 13 recorded storm days in Independence, KS
Other storms in Independence
Jul 4, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed 
Jun 21, 2026
1.25" Estimated 1.25"
No ground reports filed 
Jun 16, 2026
0.5" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed 
Jun 11, 2026
1.25" Estimated 1.25"
No ground reports filed 
May 31, 2026
1.75" Signatures 1.75" Estimated 1.25"
No ground reports filed 
May 29, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed 
May 4, 2026
0.5" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed 
Apr 28, 2026
0.75" Signatures 0.75"
No ground reports filed 
Apr 17, 2026
4" Signatures 4" Estimated 1.5"
No ground reports filed 
Apr 15, 2026
1.25" Estimated 1.25"
2
ground reports 
Apr 3, 2026
1.75" Signatures 1.75" Estimated 1"
No ground reports filed 
Mar 6, 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.