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
/ Storm field report · Franklin
Hail in Ottawa · Apr 13, 2026
NEXRAD logged 0 hail signatures up to 0"; the estimated-size surface reached 1.75" aloft. 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 1.75" ≈ golf ball · radar-estimated size aloft
Homes in the hail footprint 10,381
Ground reports 4 2 hail · 2 tornado
Radar surfaces 2 NEXRAD + estimated size
Convective day · Apr 13, 2026 · noon–noon UTC
Severity
The most severe storm Ottawa has seen in the last 12 months
Composite score · 6.1 / 10
Storm severity score
Overview's storm severity score weighs hailstone size, homes in the footprint, and ground-truth reports.
6.1 /10
- Peak hail signal
- 44 /100
- Homes exposed
- 80 /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 Ottawa saw the hail — from two instruments
Apr 13, 2026 · Ottawa, KS
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 Surface resolved
Radar signature field 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
0"
Detections
0
Radar-estimated hail size Surface resolved
Estimated size field 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"
The storm in context
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 8 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: Pomona (4 miles northwest, up to 1.75"); Overbrook (13 miles northwest, up to 1.75"); Quenemo (14 miles west, up to 1.75").
These maps are stills. In the app this date is one of 8 Ottawa 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
4 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
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
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.
Hail was reported over 27 minutes, from to .
Reports came from Pomona — beyond Ottawa itself.
High damage potential
What 1.75" hail means for Ottawa roofs.
Hail around an inch and a half is capable of cracking shingles, stripping granules, and denting gutters, vents, and siding. Risk is usually greatest near the strongest radar signal, but property-level damage still requires an on-site inspection.
Radar reading · not confirmed damage
Roofing exposure
What this storm is worth to a roofer.
10,381 homes × $12,000 avg. claim
Potential roof exposure
$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
Close just 0.5% of the 10,381 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
April 2028
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.
Names and phones for every home in the footprint: at most $2,180 on top of the $150 plan.
Ottawa hail history
Other storms in Ottawa.
8 recorded storm days in Ottawa, KS
Estimated-size surface Storm date Ottawa / KS
Sep 9, 2026
0.75" Estimated 0.75"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Ottawa / KS
May 30, 2026
1.75" Signatures 1.75" Estimated 1"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Ottawa / KS
Apr 26, 2026
1.25" Signatures 1.25" Estimated 0.75"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Ottawa / KS
Apr 23, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 0.75"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Ottawa / KS
Apr 17, 2026
2.25" Signatures 2.25" Estimated 1.25"
2 ground reports Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Ottawa / KS
Mar 10, 2026
0.75" Estimated 0.75"
No ground reports filed Open report →
NEXRAD surface Storm date Ottawa / KS
Mar 5, 2026
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 10, 2026.