Hail in Lead Jul 3, 2026
Hit 31 days agoBoth radar surfaces caught this storm: NEXRAD logged 19 hail signatures up to 3", and the radar-estimated size reached 2.25" aloft. At 3" — baseball — this is severe, roof-replacing hail: close to every roof inside the footprint becomes a claim candidate.
3"
≈ baseball · the largest NEXRAD radar signature10
0
none filedThe most severe storm Lead 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
- 75 /100
- Homes exposed
- 21 /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 Lead 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.
The point detections NEXRAD recorded overhead. Each signature marks where the radar saw hail aloft — it is a detection, not a stone measured on the ground.
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.
Where Jul 3, 2026 sits in Lead's hail record
This was Lead's 7th recorded hail day, arriving 7 days after the Jun 26, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 1st of the 11 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Lead at 3" — the largest NEXRAD radar signature.
The Jul 3, 2026 convective day was bigger than Lead: the same system put hail over 1,885 other tracked cities, 32 of them in South Dakota. Nearest: Deadwood (16 miles southeast, up to 1.5"); Hill City (17 miles south, up to 3"); Silver City (17 miles southeast, up to 1.5").
These maps are stills from Lead's Jul 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.
Nobody on the ground filed a report over Lead for this date, which says more about who was watching than about the storm: spotter reports only exist where there is an observer. The radar surfaces above carry the evidence for this one.
What 3" hail means for Lead 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.
$120K
Potential roof exposure — 10 homes × the ~$12,000 industry-average hail roof claim. Exposure, not confirmed damage.Track hail over Lead on the live map
Radar updates in real time, spotter reports appear on the map as they're filed, and the full Lead storm history — this Jul 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
11 recorded storm days in Lead, SD
Other storms in Lead
Jul 18, 2026
0.75"
Jul 10, 2026
1"
Jul 8, 2026
1.25"
Jul 7, 2026
1"
Jun 26, 2026
0.5"
Jun 20, 2026
0.5"
Jun 6, 2026
1"
Jun 4, 2026
0.75"
May 30, 2026
1.25"
May 29, 2026
1.5"