Hail size 1"
3 E Cary Wake County
“Report from mPING: Quarter (1.00 in.). (RAH)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail in Cary Jul 8, 2026
Hit 26 days agoBoth radar surfaces caught this storm: NEXRAD logged 7 hail signatures up to 2", and the radar-estimated size reached 1.25" aloft. 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 · the largest NEXRAD radar signature Homes in the hail footprint
3,773
Ground reports
3
3 hailThe most severe storm Cary 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.
5.5 /10
- Hail size
- 50 /100
- Homes exposed
- 72 /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 Cary 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.
NEXRAD radar signatures
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.
Max size
2"
Detections
7
Radar-estimated hail size
Radar-estimated maximum hail size across the swath, modeled from radar aloft. It reflects the biggest stone the storm could support, which may differ from what actually fell.
Max size
1.25"
Where Jul 8, 2026 sits in Cary's hail record
This was Cary's 1st recorded hail day — the first hail day in our records for the city. By severity it ranks 1st of the 2 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Cary at 2" — the largest NEXRAD radar signature.
The Jul 8, 2026 convective day was bigger than Cary: the same system put hail over 908 other tracked cities, 56 of them in North Carolina. Nearest: Apex (7 miles south, up to 2.25"); Raleigh (8 miles east, up to 2.25"); Holly Springs (15 miles south, up to 1.75").
These maps are stills from Cary's Jul 8, 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 NNW Lake Wheeler Wake County
“Hail up to quarter sized near the intersection of Southeast Cary Parkway and Holly Springs Road. (RAH)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail size 1"
3 NW Lake Wheeler Wake County
“1 inch hail reported. (RAH)”
— 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 Lake Wheeler — beyond Cary itself.
What 2" hail means for Cary 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
$45M
Potential roof exposure — 3,773 homes × the ~$12,000 industry-average hail roof claim. Exposure, not confirmed damage.
Illustrative jobs
19 jobs
Illustrative work
~$285K
Claims from this storm can typically be filed until around July 2028 — the window to reach these homeowners while it's still open. Deadlines vary by policy and state.
Track hail over Cary on the live map
Radar updates in real time, spotter reports appear on the map as they're filed, and the full Cary storm history — this Jul 8, 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
Cary hail history
← All hail in Cary 2 recorded storm days in Cary, NC
Other storms in Cary
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.