Tornado Rating unknown
3 ENE Pomona Franklin County
“Spotter confirmed he was seeing debris but is about 15 miles south so can not fully see the actual tornado. (TOP)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail in Ottawa Apr 13, 2026
The radar-estimated size surface caught this storm, reaching 1.75" aloft. NEXRAD logged no point detections over Ottawa this day.
A tornado was also reported to the National Weather Service during this storm — see the ground reports below.
Largest hailstone
1.75"
≈ golf ball · radar-estimated size aloft Homes in the hail footprint
10,381
Ground reports
4
2 hail · 2 tornadoThe most severe storm Ottawa 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.
6.1 /10
- Hail size
- 44 /100
- Homes exposed
- 80 /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 Ottawa 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.
Radar-estimated hail size
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
1.75"
Only the radar-estimated size surface resolved for Apr 13, 2026 — this storm produced no NEXRAD point detections over Ottawa, so there is one map to show, not two.
Where Apr 13, 2026 sits in Ottawa's hail record
This was Ottawa's 3rd recorded hail day, arriving 34 days after the Mar 10, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 1st of the 7 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Ottawa at 1.75" — radar-estimated size aloft.
The Apr 13, 2026 convective day was bigger than Ottawa: the same system put hail over 467 other tracked cities, 32 of them in Kansas. Nearest: Rantoul (9 miles southeast, up to 1"); Pomona (13 miles west, up to 1.75"); Edgerton (15 miles northeast, up to 1").
These maps are stills from Ottawa's Apr 13, 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
1 N Ottawa Franklin County
“observed moving east. (TOP)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail reports
2 reports Hail size 2"
1 SSW Ottawa Franklin County
“Delayed report of 2 inch hail stones across the street from Ottawa High School. Photos sent via email. (TOP)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail size 2.75"
1 N Ottawa Franklin 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
Hail was reported over 27 minutes, from to .
Reports came from Pomona — beyond Ottawa itself.
What 1.75" hail means for Ottawa roofs
At an inch and a half, hail cracks shingles, strips granules down to the mat, and dents gutters, vents, and siding. A footprint like this typically produces a wave of insurance claims — and the contractor who reaches the homeowner first usually gets the inspection.
What this storm is worth to a roofer
$125M
Potential roof exposure — 10,381 homes × the ~$12,000 industry-average hail roof claim. Exposure, not confirmed damage.
Illustrative jobs
52 jobs
Illustrative work
~$780K
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 Ottawa on the live map
Radar updates in real time, spotter reports appear on the map as they're filed, and the full Ottawa storm history — this Apr 13, 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
Ottawa hail history
← All hail in Ottawa 7 recorded storm days in Ottawa, KS
Other storms in Ottawa
May 30, 2026
1.75" Signatures 1.75" Estimated 1"
No ground reports filed 
Apr 26, 2026
1.25" Signatures 1.25" Estimated 0.75"
No ground reports filed 
Apr 23, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 0.75"
No ground reports filed 
Apr 17, 2026
2.25" Signatures 2.25" Estimated 1.25"
2
ground reports 
Mar 10, 2026
0.75" Estimated 0.75"
No ground reports filed 
Mar 5, 2026
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 2, 2026.