Hail in Sterling Heights · May 15, 2026
NEXRAD logged 0 hail signatures up to 1"; the estimated-size surface had no signal that day. Open it on the live map to see the swath over the streets.
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Convective day · May 15, 2026 · noon–noon UTC
Severity
Sterling Heights's only recorded storm in the last 12 months
Overview's storm severity score weighs hailstone size, homes in the footprint, and ground-truth reports.
- Peak hail signal
- 25 /100
- Homes exposed
- 0 /100
- Ground truth
- 0 /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 Sterling Heights saw the hail — from two instruments
Two instruments, one storm: NEXRAD logs the point signatures it detected overhead, while the estimated-size surface models how large the hail aloft could have grown. Agreement between them is not guaranteed — the gaps are where the model ran ahead of, or behind, the detections.
Radar signature field NEXRAD's hail signatures for this storm: the spots the radar detected from above. A detection overhead is not the same thing as a confirmed stone below.
Only the NEXRAD radar-signature surface resolved for May 15, 2026 — the estimated-size swath had no hail signal to model for this storm, so there is one map to show, not two.
The storm in context
Where May 15, 2026 sits in Sterling Heights's hail record.
This was Sterling Heights's 1st recorded hail day — the first hail day in our records for the city. By severity it ranks 1st of the 1 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Sterling Heights at 1" — the largest NEXRAD radar signature.
The May 15, 2026 convective day was bigger than Sterling Heights: the same system put hail over 444 other tracked cities, 27 of them in Michigan. Nearest: Troy (5 miles west, up to 1"); Bloomfield Hills (15 miles west, up to 1"); West Bloomfield (20 miles west, up to 1").
These maps are stills. In the app this date is one of 1 Sterling Heights storm date 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
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.
The National Weather Service logged no spotter reports for this storm over Sterling Heights. That absence is ordinary — filing a report takes a person on the spot who saw the hail and phoned it in. What stands as the record for this date is the radar above, which caught the storm regardless.
Damage-capable hail signal
What 1" hail means for Sterling Heights roofs.
Quarter-size and larger hail can bruise asphalt mats, remove granules, and dent exposed soft metal. The mapped footprint identifies an inspection priority area — it does not identify which individual roofs, if any, sustained damage.
Radar reading · not confirmed damage
Sterling Heights hail history
Sterling Heights's hail record.
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Set your territory and alerts today. When hail hits, use Overview to choose your streets and get moving.
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Web trial: 7 days free. Card required. $150/month after the trial unless cancelled.