Wind gust 79 mph
1 N Buffalo Harding County
“(UNR)”
— NOAA / SPC storm report
/ Storm field report · Harding
Hail in Buffalo · Aug 17, 2026
Hit 26 days ago
The estimated-size surface reached 1.25" aloft; NEXRAD logged no point detections over Buffalo that day. Open it on the live map to see the swath over the streets.
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Peak hail signal 1.25" ≈ half-dollar · radar-estimated size aloft
Homes in the hail footprint 254
Ground reports 1 1 wind
Radar surfaces 1 Estimated size only
Convective day · Aug 17, 2026 · noon–noon UTC
Severity
The 9th most severe storm Buffalo has seen in the last 12 months
Composite score · 3.3 / 10
Storm severity score
Overview's storm severity score weighs hailstone size, homes in the footprint, and ground-truth reports.
3.3 /10
- Peak hail signal
- 31 /100
- Homes exposed
- 48 /100
- Ground truth
- 17 /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 Buffalo saw the hail — from two instruments
Aug 17, 2026 · Buffalo, SD
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-estimated hail size Surface resolved
Estimated size field 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"
Only the radar-estimated size surface resolved for Aug 17, 2026 — this storm produced no NEXRAD point detections over Buffalo, so there is one map to show, not two.
The storm in context
Where Aug 17, 2026 sits in Buffalo's hail record.
This was Buffalo's 9th recorded hail day, arriving 6 days after the Aug 11, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 9th of the 10 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Buffalo at 1.25" — radar-estimated size aloft.
The Aug 17, 2026 convective day was bigger than Buffalo: the same system put hail over 428 other tracked cities, 29 of them in South Dakota. Nearest: Ludlow (22 miles northeast, up to 2"); Camp Crook (23 miles west, up to 1"); Ralph (32 miles northeast, up to 2").
These maps are stills. In the app this date is one of 10 Buffalo 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
1 report filed with the NWS
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.
Wind reports
1 reportDamage-capable hail signal
What 1.25" hail means for Buffalo 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
Roofing exposure
What this storm is worth to a roofer.
254 homes × $12,000 avg. claim
Potential roof exposure
$3M
Potential roof exposure — 254 homes × the ~$12,000 industry-average hail roof claim. Exposure, not confirmed damage.
- Illustrative jobs
- 1 job
- Illustrative work
- ~$15K
Close just 0.5% of the 254 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.
Claim window
August 2028
Claims from this storm can typically be filed until around August 2028 — the window to reach these homeowners while it's still open. Deadlines vary by policy and state.
Names and phones for every home in the footprint: at most $53 on top of the $150 plan.
Buffalo hail history
Other storms in Buffalo.
10 recorded storm days in Buffalo, SD
Estimated-size surface Storm date Buffalo / SD
Aug 30, 2026
1.25" Estimated 1.25"
10 ground reports Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Buffalo / SD
Aug 11, 2026
4" Estimated 4"
5 ground reports Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Buffalo / SD
Jul 16, 2026
0.75" Estimated 0.75"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Buffalo / SD
Jul 2, 2026
1.75" Signatures 1.75" Estimated 1"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Buffalo / SD
Jun 27, 2026
4" Signatures 4" Estimated 3"
8 ground reports Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Buffalo / SD
Jun 7, 2026
4" Signatures 4" Estimated 3.5"
12 ground reports Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Buffalo / SD
Jun 6, 2026
2.5" Signatures 2.5" Estimated 1.75"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Buffalo / SD
May 30, 2026
1.75" Signatures 1.75" Estimated 1.25"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Estimated-size surface Storm date Buffalo / SD
Apr 13, 2026
2" Signatures 2" Estimated 1.25"
No ground reports filed Open report →
Take your next area into the field.
See the hail, review your recommendations, and canvass with Overview on iPhone.
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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 tells you where to look. Only an inspection confirms damage at an address. Last updated Aug 31, 2026.