Hail in Colby · May 17, 2026
Convective day · May 17, 2026 · noon–noon UTC
Severity
The 4th most severe storm Colby has seen in the last 12 months
Overview's storm severity score weighs hailstone size, homes in the footprint, and ground-truth reports.
- Peak hail signal
- 0 /100
- Homes exposed
- 0 /100
- Ground truth
- 0 /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 Colby saw the hail — from two instruments
We map this storm two ways: the NEXRAD radar signatures the storm produced overhead, and the radar-estimated size of the hail in the air. The two surfaces don’t have to match — where they diverge is where estimated size aloft ran ahead of, or behind, what the signatures caught.
Radar signature field NEXRAD radar signatures — the point detections the storm produced overhead. A signature is where the radar saw hail, not a confirmed stone on the ground.
Only the NEXRAD radar-signature surface resolved for May 17, 2026 — the estimated-size swath had no hail signal to model for this storm, so there is one map to show, not two.
The storm in context
Where May 17, 2026 sits in Colby's hail record.
This was Colby's 1st recorded hail day — the first hail day in our records for the city. By severity it ranks 4th of the 4 storms we have logged here. Radar put the day's largest stone over Colby at 0" — radar-estimated size aloft.
The May 17, 2026 convective day was bigger than Colby: the same system put hail over 894 other tracked cities, 65 of them in Wisconsin. Nearest: Spencer (7 miles south, up to 1"); Dorchester (7 miles north, up to 0"); Withee (10 miles west, up to 1").
These maps are stills. In the app this date is one of 4 Colby 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
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.
For this storm over Colby, the NWS report log is empty — a common outcome, since ground reports only happen when someone witnesses the hail and takes the time to call it in. The detection record for the date lives in the radar maps above.
Below the severe threshold
What 0" hail means for Colby roofs.
Radar signals under three-quarters of an inch stay below the National Weather Service severe threshold and generally indicate lower roof risk. Older or already-worn materials can still show effects, but radar alone cannot determine whether a specific roof was damaged.
Radar reading · not confirmed damage
Estimated-size surface Jun 24, 2026
1"
Estimated-size surface Jun 10, 2026
0.5"
Estimated-size surface Jun 9, 2026
0.5"The next storm won’t wait for you.
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