Hail in La Mesa · Aug 16, 2026
The estimated-size surface reached 0.5" aloft; NEXRAD logged no point detections over La Mesa that day. Open it on the live map to see the swath over the streets.
Convective day · Aug 16, 2026 · noon–noon UTC
Severity
The 5th most severe storm La Mesa has seen in the last 12 months
Overview's storm severity score weighs hailstone size, homes in the footprint, and ground-truth reports.
- Peak hail signal
- 13 /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 La Mesa saw the hail — from two instruments
The maps here read the same storm from two angles — point detections from NEXRAD, and modeled hail size aloft. Where the two disagree is informative: it marks where estimated size outran the signatures, or trailed them.
Estimated size field The modeled maximum hail size across the swath, derived from radar aloft — the largest stone the storm could have supported, which is not necessarily what reached the ground.
Only the radar-estimated size surface resolved for Aug 16, 2026 — this storm produced no NEXRAD point detections over La Mesa, so there is one map to show, not two.
The storm in context
Where Aug 16, 2026 sits in La Mesa's hail record.
This was La Mesa's 5th recorded hail day, arriving 27 days after the Jul 20, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 5th of the 5 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over La Mesa at 0.5" — radar-estimated size aloft.
The Aug 16, 2026 convective day was bigger than La Mesa: the same system put hail over 264 other tracked cities, 7 of them in New Mexico. Nearest: Chaparral (36 miles east, up to 0.5"); Ribera (222 miles north, up to 0.5"); Las Vegas (242 miles northeast, up to 1.25").
These maps are stills. In the app this date is one of 5 La Mesa storm dates 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.
For this storm over La Mesa, the NWS report log is empty — a common outcome, since ground reports only happen when someone witnesses the hail and takes the time to call it in. The detection record for the date lives in the radar maps above.
Below the severe threshold
What 0.5" hail means for La Mesa roofs.
Radar signals under three-quarters of an inch stay below the National Weather Service severe threshold and generally indicate lower roof risk. Older or already-worn materials can still show effects, but radar alone cannot determine whether a specific roof was damaged.
Radar reading · not confirmed damage
La Mesa hail history
Other storms in La Mesa.
Estimated-size surface Jul 20, 2026
1"
Estimated-size surface Jul 19, 2026
0.5"
Estimated-size surface Jun 14, 2026
0.75"
Estimated-size surface Jun 3, 2026
1.75"Take your next area into the field.
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