Hail size 1.5"
1 WSW Whitewater Harvey County
“Pea to ping pong ball sized hail. (ICT)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail in Valley Center Apr 17, 2026
Both radar surfaces caught this storm: NEXRAD logged 63 hail signatures up to 3.25", and the radar-estimated size reached 1.25" 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
13,024
Ground reports
6
6 hailThe most severe storm Valley 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.
8.4 /10
- Hail size
- 81 /100
- Homes exposed
- 82 /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 Valley Center 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.
NEXRAD radar signatures
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
3.25"
Detections
63
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
1.25"
Where Apr 17, 2026 sits in Valley Center's hail record
This was Valley Center's 3rd recorded hail day, arriving 22 days after the Mar 26, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 1st of the 9 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Valley Center at 3.25" — the largest NEXRAD radar signature.
The Apr 17, 2026 convective day was bigger than Valley Center: the same system put hail over 1,016 other tracked cities, 144 of them in Kansas. Nearest: Sedgwick (4 miles northwest, up to 2.75"); Whitewater (11 miles east, up to 2.75"); Benton (11 miles east, up to 1.75").
These maps are stills from Valley Center's Apr 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.
Hail reports
6 reports Hail size 1.25"
1 E Bel Aire Sedgwick County
“Half dollar hail via mPING. (ICT)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail size 1"
2 WNW Benton Butler County
“(ICT)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail size 1"
Whitewater Butler County
“Relayed from local fire department. (ICT)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail size 1"
4 SSE Maize Sedgwick County
“(ICT)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail size 1.5"
Valley Center Sedgwick 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
The storm tracked east at roughly 15 mph, based on the timing of ground reports.
Hail was reported over 61 minutes, from to .
Reports came from Whitewater, Bel Aire, Benton, and Maize — beyond Valley Center itself.
What 3.25" hail means for Valley 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
$156M
Potential roof exposure — 13,024 homes × the ~$12,000 industry-average hail roof claim. Exposure, not confirmed damage.
Illustrative jobs
65 jobs
Illustrative work
~$975K
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 Valley Center on the live map
Radar updates in real time, spotter reports appear on the map as they're filed, and the full Valley Center storm history — this Apr 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
Valley Center hail history
← All hail in Valley Center 9 recorded storm days in Valley Center, KS
Other storms in Valley Center
Jun 25, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed 
May 30, 2026
2.5" Signatures 2.5" Estimated 1.75"
1
ground report 
May 29, 2026
0.75" Signatures 0.75"
No ground reports filed 
May 18, 2026
1" Estimated 1"
1
ground report 
May 4, 2026
1.75" Signatures 1.75" Estimated 1.25"
No ground reports filed 
Apr 23, 2026
1.75" Signatures 1.75" Estimated 1"
3
ground reports 
Mar 26, 2026
Mar 10, 2026
1" Estimated 1"
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 2, 2026.