Hail in Rapid City Jul 29, 2026
Hit 5 days agoBoth radar surfaces caught this storm: NEXRAD logged 0 hail signatures up to 0", and the radar-estimated size reached 0.5" aloft.
0.5"
≈ pea to penny · radar-estimated size aloft953
0
none filedThe 11th most severe storm Rapid 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
- 60 /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 Rapid City 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.
Where NEXRAD flagged hail as the storm passed — point signatures from the radar, which indicate hail overhead rather than confirm what landed.
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.
Where Jul 29, 2026 sits in Rapid City's hail record
This was Rapid City's 16th recorded hail day, arriving 2 days after the Jul 27, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 11th of the 17 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Rapid City at 0.5" — radar-estimated size aloft.
The Jul 29, 2026 convective day was bigger than Rapid City: the same system put hail over 359 other tracked cities, 30 of them in South Dakota. Nearest: Deadwood (7 miles north, up to 0.75"); Nemo (9 miles northwest, up to 0.75"); Box Elder (27 miles northeast, up to 0.5").
These maps are stills from Rapid City's Jul 29, 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 Rapid City 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 0.5" hail means for Rapid 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.
$11M
Potential roof exposure — 953 homes × the ~$12,000 industry-average hail roof claim. Exposure, not confirmed damage.Track hail over Rapid City on the live map
Radar updates in real time, spotter reports appear on the map as they're filed, and the full Rapid City storm history — this Jul 29, 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
17 recorded storm days in Rapid City, SD
Other storms in Rapid City
Jul 30, 2026
0.75"
Jul 27, 2026
0.5"
Jul 9, 2026
0.5"
Jul 8, 2026
1.25"
Jul 7, 2026
1"
Jul 3, 2026
3"
Jul 2, 2026
1.75"
Jun 26, 2026
1"
Jun 22, 2026
1"
Jun 7, 2026
0.75"
Jun 6, 2026
0.5"
Jun 4, 2026
1.25"
May 31, 2026
1.75"
May 30, 2026
1.5"
May 21, 2026
0.75"
May 3, 2026
0.5"