Hail in Hill City May 3, 2026
The radar-estimated size surface caught this storm, reaching 0.5" aloft. NEXRAD logged no point detections over Hill City this day.
0.5"
≈ pea to penny · radar-estimated size aloft161
0
none filedThe 9th most severe storm Hill City has seen in the last 12 months
Overview's storm severity score weighs hailstone size, homes in the footprint, and ground-truth reports.
- Hail size
- 13 /100
- Homes exposed
- 44 /100
- Ground truth
- 0 /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 Hill City 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 over the swath. The model reports the biggest stone the storm could sustain in the air; what actually fell may have been smaller.
Only the radar-estimated size surface resolved for May 3, 2026 — this storm produced no NEXRAD point detections over Hill City, so there is one map to show, not two.
Where May 3, 2026 sits in Hill City's hail record
This was Hill City's 1st recorded hail day — the first hail day in our records for the city. By severity it ranks 9th of the 12 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Hill City at 0.5" — radar-estimated size aloft.
The May 3, 2026 convective day was bigger than Hill City: the same system put hail over 115 other tracked cities, 2 of them in South Dakota. Nearest: Rapid City (13 miles east, up to 0.5"); Deadwood (16 miles northeast, up to 0.5"); Novinger (623 miles southeast, up to 0").
These maps are stills from Hill City's May 3, 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.
The National Weather Service logged no spotter reports for this storm over Hill City. That absence is ordinary — filing a report takes a person on the spot who saw the hail and phoned it in. What stands as the record for this date is the radar above, which caught the storm regardless.
What 0.5" hail means for Hill City roofs
Hail under three-quarters of an inch stays below the National Weather Service severe threshold and rarely breaks shingles outright. But repeated small-hail events accelerate granule loss and shorten roof life — on older roofs, it's still worth a conversation.
$1.9M
Potential roof exposure — 161 homes × the ~$12,000 industry-average hail roof claim. Exposure, not confirmed damage.Track hail over Hill City on the live map
Radar updates in real time, spotter reports appear on the map as they're filed, and the full Hill City storm history — this May 3, 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
12 recorded storm days in Hill City, SD
Other storms in Hill City
Jul 31, 2026
1"
Jul 10, 2026
0.75"
Jul 9, 2026
1"
Jul 8, 2026
1.25"
Jul 3, 2026
3"
Jul 2, 2026
0.5"
Jun 26, 2026
1.75"
Jun 21, 2026
0.5"
Jun 6, 2026
1"
Jun 4, 2026
2"
May 30, 2026
1.75"