Storm report · Meade

Hail in Union Center Jul 2, 2026

Hit 32 days ago

Both radar surfaces caught this storm: NEXRAD logged 6 hail signatures up to 3.75", and the radar-estimated size reached 2" aloft. At 3.75" — baseball — this is severe, roof-replacing hail: close to every roof inside the footprint becomes a claim candidate.

Largest hailstone

3.75"

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

9

Ground reports

3

3 hail
Severity

The most severe storm Union Center 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.

6.9 /10
Hail size
94 /100

Largest hailstone — the top predictor of roof damage.

Homes exposed
20 /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 Union Center 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.

NEXRAD radar signatures
NEXRAD radar-signature map of the hail storm over Union Center, SD on Jul 2, 2026

Where NEXRAD flagged hail as the storm passed — point signatures from the radar, which indicate hail overhead rather than confirm what landed.

Max size 3.75" Detections 6
Radar-estimated hail size
Radar-estimated hail-size map of the storm over Union Center, SD on Jul 2, 2026

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.

Max size 2"
The storm in context

Where Jul 2, 2026 sits in Union Center's hail record

This was Union Center's 5th recorded hail day, arriving 5 days after the Jun 27, 2026 storm. By severity it ranks 1st of the 8 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Union Center at 3.75" — the largest NEXRAD radar signature.

The Jul 2, 2026 convective day was bigger than Union Center: the same system put hail over 1,147 other tracked cities, 153 of them in South Dakota. Nearest: Enning (14 miles southeast, up to 2.5"); Wasta (21 miles southeast, up to 2.5"); New Underwood (28 miles south, up to 2.5").

These maps are stills from Union Center's Jul 2, 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.

Hail reports

3 reports
Hail size 1.75"
8 WSW Union Center Meade County

“(UNR)”

— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail size 1.25"
9 WSW Union Center Meade County

“Along New Underwood Rd. Reported via Spotter Network. (UNR)”

— NOAA / SPC storm report
Hail size 1.5"
1 SE Union Center Meade County

“Mainly pea to dime. (UNR)”

— NOAA / SPC storm report
Storm forensics

How the storm moved

Hail was reported over 28 minutes, from to .

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 Union Center 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

$108K

Potential roof exposure — 9 homes × the ~$12,000 industry-average hail roof claim. Exposure, not confirmed damage.
Claims from this storm can typically be filed until around July 2028 — the window to reach these homeowners while it's still open. Deadlines vary by policy and state.

Track hail over Union Center on the live map

Radar updates in real time, spotter reports appear on the map as they're filed, and the full Union Center storm history — this Jul 2, 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

Union Center hail history

8 recorded storm days in Union Center, SD

← All hail in Union Center

Other storms in Union Center

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.