Tornado Rating unknown
6 NNE Ash Valley Rush County
“[Landspout] Video of a brief landspout south of Timken. (DDC)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail in Rush Center May 17, 2026
Both radar surfaces caught this storm: NEXRAD logged 5 hail signatures up to 4", and the radar-estimated size reached 3" aloft. At 4" — softball or larger — 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
4"
≈ softball or larger · the largest NEXRAD radar signature Homes in the hail footprint
35
Ground reports
2
1 hail · 1 tornadoThe most severe storm Rush Center 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.
7.5 /10
- Hail size
- 100 /100
- Homes exposed
- 31 /100
- Ground truth
- 50 /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 Rush Center saw the hail — from two instruments
The maps here read the same storm from two angles — point detections from NEXRAD, and modeled hail size aloft. Where the two disagree is informative: it marks where estimated size outran the signatures, or trailed them.
NEXRAD radar signatures
Where NEXRAD flagged hail as the storm passed — point signatures from the radar, which indicate hail overhead rather than confirm what landed.
Max size
4"
Detections
5
Radar-estimated hail size
The modeled maximum hail size across the swath, derived from radar aloft — the largest stone the storm could have supported, which is not necessarily what reached the ground.
Max size
3"
Where May 17, 2026 sits in Rush Center's hail record
This was Rush Center's 3rd recorded hail day, arriving 22 days after the Apr 25, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 1st of the 9 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Rush Center at 4" — the largest NEXRAD radar signature.
The May 17, 2026 convective day was bigger than Rush Center: the same system put hail over 894 other tracked cities, 134 of them in Kansas. Nearest: Bison (9 miles northeast, up to 2.5"); Larned (9 miles southeast, up to 2.5"); Nekoma (13 miles southwest, up to 4").
These maps are stills from Rush Center's May 17, 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
1 report Hail size 1.25"
Rush Center Rush County
“Half-dollar sized hail reported. (DDC)”
— 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 199 minutes, from to .
Reports came from Ash Valley — beyond Rush Center itself.
What 4" hail means for Rush Center 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
$420K
Potential roof exposure — 35 homes × the ~$12,000 industry-average hail roof claim. Exposure, not confirmed damage. 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 Rush Center on the live map
Radar updates in real time, spotter reports appear on the map as they're filed, and the full Rush Center storm history — this May 17, 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
Rush Center hail history
← All hail in Rush Center 9 recorded storm days in Rush Center, KS
Other storms in Rush Center
Jul 4, 2026
1" Signatures 1"
No ground reports filed 
Jul 3, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed 
Jun 13, 2026
1.5" Estimated 1.5"
No ground reports filed 
Jun 9, 2026
1.5" Signatures 1.5" Estimated 1"
No ground reports filed 
May 30, 2026
2.5" Signatures 2.5" Estimated 1.5"
No ground reports filed 
May 18, 2026
4" Signatures 4"
No ground reports filed 
Apr 25, 2026
2.5" Signatures 2.5" Estimated 1.25"
1
ground report 
Apr 9, 2026
1.25" Signatures 1.25" Estimated 0.75"
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.