Storm report · Cattaraugus

Hail in Machias Mar 31, 2026

Both radar surfaces caught this storm: NEXRAD logged 12 hail signatures up to 3.75", and the radar-estimated size reached 1.25" aloft. At 3.75" — baseball — this is severe, roof-replacing hail: close to every roof inside the footprint becomes a claim candidate.

A tornado was also reported to the National Weather Service during this storm — see the ground reports below.

Largest hailstone

3.75"

≈ baseball · the largest NEXRAD radar signature
Homes in the hail footprint

819

Ground reports

2

1 hail · 1 tornado
Severity

The most severe storm Machias 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.

7.8 /10
Hail size
94 /100

Largest hailstone — the top predictor of roof damage.

Homes exposed
58 /100

How many homes sit inside the storm's footprint.

Ground truth
50 /100

Independent storm reports filed with the NWS.

Two ways to read the storm

How Machias 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 radar-signature map of the hail storm over Machias, NY on Mar 31, 2026

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 3.75" Detections 12
Radar-estimated hail size
Radar-estimated hail-size map of the storm over Machias, NY on Mar 31, 2026

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"
The storm in context

Where Mar 31, 2026 sits in Machias's hail record

This was Machias'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 Machias at 3.75" — the largest NEXRAD radar signature.

The Mar 31, 2026 convective day was bigger than Machias: the same system put hail over 522 other tracked cities, 56 of them in New York. Nearest: Franklinville (5 miles east, up to 1.75"); East Otto (10 miles west, up to 3.75"); Rushford (10 miles east, up to 2").

These maps are stills from Machias's Mar 31, 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.

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.

Tornado reports

1 report
Tornado Rating unknown
4 SW Lime Lake-Machias Cattaraugus County

“An EF-1 tornado has been confirmed for 2 SW of Machias... NY. Estimated peak winds of 107 mph. (BUF)”

— NOAA / SPC storm report

Hail reports

1 report
Hail size 1"
2 WSW West Valley Cattaraugus County

“(BUF)”

— NOAA / SPC storm report
Storm forensics

How the storm moved

Reports came from West Valley and Lime Lake-Machias — beyond Machias itself.

Read from the arrival times and locations of the NOAA ground reports, not a radar-measured storm track.
Severe, roof-replacing hail

What 3.75" hail means for Machias 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

$9.8M

Potential roof exposure — 819 homes × the ~$12,000 industry-average hail roof claim. Exposure, not confirmed damage.
Illustrative jobs
4 jobs
Illustrative work
~$60K
Close just 0.5% of the 819 homes in this footprint at the average $15,000 roof job. Illustrative math, not a projection — your results depend on your outreach and how the market responds.
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 Machias on the live map

Radar updates in real time, spotter reports appear on the map as they're filed, and the full Machias storm history — this Mar 31, 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

Machias hail history

2 recorded storm days in Machias, NY

← All hail in Machias

Other storms in Machias

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.