Storm report · Saline

Hail in Salina May 18, 2026

Both radar surfaces caught this storm: NEXRAD logged 131 hail signatures up to 3.25", and the radar-estimated size reached 1.5" aloft. At 3.25" — baseball — this is severe, roof-replacing hail: close to every roof inside the footprint becomes a claim candidate.

Largest hailstone

3.25"

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

14,937

Ground reports

1

1 hail
Severity

The 3rd most severe storm Salina 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.

7.2 /10
Hail size
81 /100

Largest hailstone — the top predictor of roof damage.

Homes exposed
83 /100

How many homes sit inside the storm's footprint.

Ground truth
17 /100

Independent storm reports filed with the NWS.

Two ways to read the storm

How Salina saw the hail — from two instruments

We map this storm two ways: the NEXRAD radar signatures the storm produced overhead, and the radar-estimated size of the hail in the air. The two surfaces don’t have to match — where they diverge is where estimated size aloft ran ahead of, or behind, what the signatures caught.

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

NEXRAD radar signatures — the point detections the storm produced overhead. A signature is where the radar saw hail, not a confirmed stone on the ground.

Max size 3.25" Detections 131
Radar-estimated hail size
Radar-estimated hail-size map of the storm over Salina, KS on May 18, 2026

Maximum hail size as estimated from radar aloft. Treat it as the storm's ceiling — the largest supportable stone — rather than a ground measurement.

Max size 1.5"
The storm in context

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

This was Salina's 6th recorded hail day, arriving 1 day after the May 17, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 3rd of the 12 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Salina at 3.25" — the largest NEXRAD radar signature.

The May 18, 2026 convective day was bigger than Salina: the same system put hail over 726 other tracked cities, 258 of them in Kansas. Nearest: New Cambria (6 miles northeast, up to 1.75"); Assaria (10 miles south, up to 3.25"); Bennington (10 miles north, up to 2.5").

These maps are stills from Salina'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

1 report
Hail size 1"
1 E Salina Saline County

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

— NOAA / SPC storm report
Severe, roof-replacing hail

What 3.25" hail means for Salina 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

$179M

Potential roof exposure — 14,937 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 14,937 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 Salina on the live map

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

Salina hail history

12 recorded storm days in Salina, KS

← All hail in Salina

Other storms in Salina

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.