Hail size 1"
1 WSW Columbus Lowndes County
“Pictures from 0.6 miles north of Main Street in Columbus showed hail the size of quarters. (JAN)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail in Columbus Mar 9, 2026
The radar-estimated size surface caught this storm, reaching 2" aloft. NEXRAD logged no point detections over Columbus this day. At 2" — tennis ball — this is severe, roof-replacing hail: close to every roof inside the footprint becomes a claim candidate.
Largest hailstone
2"
≈ tennis ball · radar-estimated size aloft Homes in the hail footprint
17,748
Ground reports
3
3 hailThe most severe storm Columbus 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.
5.9 /10
- Hail size
- 50 /100
- Homes exposed
- 85 /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 Columbus 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.
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
2"
Only the radar-estimated size surface resolved for Mar 9, 2026 — this storm produced no NEXRAD point detections over Columbus, so there is one map to show, not two.
Where Mar 9, 2026 sits in Columbus's hail record
This was Columbus's 3rd recorded hail day, arriving 2 days after the Mar 7, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 1st of the 11 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Columbus at 2" — radar-estimated size aloft.
The Mar 9, 2026 convective day was bigger than Columbus: the same system put hail over 99 other tracked cities, 27 of them in Mississippi. Nearest: Ethelsville (13 miles northeast, up to 1.25"); Reform (17 miles east, up to 1"); West Point (29 miles northwest, up to 0.75").
These maps are stills from Columbus's Mar 9, 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
3 reports Hail size 1"
3 NNE New Hope Lowndes County
“Nickel to quarter size hail was beginning to accumulate near Mt. Vernon Church. (JAN)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail size 1.5"
1 NW New Hope Lowndes County
“(JAN)”
— 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
Reports came from New Hope — beyond Columbus itself.
What 2" hail means for Columbus 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
$213M
Potential roof exposure — 17,748 homes × the ~$12,000 industry-average hail roof claim. Exposure, not confirmed damage.
Illustrative jobs
89 jobs
Illustrative work
~$1.3M
Claims from this storm can typically be filed until around March 2028 — the window to reach these homeowners while it's still open. Deadlines vary by policy and state.
Track hail over Columbus on the live map
Radar updates in real time, spotter reports appear on the map as they're filed, and the full Columbus storm history — this Mar 9, 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
Columbus hail history
← All hail in Columbus 11 recorded storm days in Columbus, MS
Other storms in Columbus
Jul 9, 2026
1.25" Signatures 1.25" Estimated 0.75"
No ground reports filed 
Jul 8, 2026
0.5" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed 
Jul 3, 2026
1" Signatures 1"
No ground reports filed 
Jul 1, 2026
2.25" Signatures 2.25" Estimated 1.25"
No ground reports filed 
Jun 1, 2026
1.5" Signatures 1.5" Estimated 0.75"
No ground reports filed 
Apr 28, 2026
1.25" Signatures 1.25" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed 
Apr 27, 2026
Apr 1, 2026
1.5" Signatures 1.5" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed 
Mar 7, 2026
1" Signatures 1" Estimated 0.5"
No ground reports filed 
Feb 26, 2026
1.75" Signatures 1.75" Estimated 0.5"
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.