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Storm analysis / Largest hail, last hour

Hail track, live radar analysis

Over Evergreen, Texas, where the map opens. The whole country

The largest hail of the last hour at each place, in inches across: the path each hail storm has cut. How to read it.

Hail track on the map

AlaskaAKAlabamaALArkansasARArizonaAZCaliforniaCAColoradoCOConnecticutCTDistrict of ColumbiaDCDelawareDEFloridaFLGeorgiaGAHawaiiHIIowaIAIdahoIDIllinoisILIndianaINKansasKSKentuckyKYLouisianaLAMassachusettsMAMarylandMDMaineMEMichiganMIMinnesotaMNMissouriMOMississippiMSMontanaMTNorth CarolinaNCNorth DakotaNDNebraskaNENew HampshireNHNew JerseyNJNew MexicoNMNevadaNVNew YorkNYOhioOHOklahomaOKOregonORPennsylvaniaPARhode IslandRISouth CarolinaSCSouth DakotaSDTennesseeTNTexasTXUtahUTVirginiaVAVermontVTWashingtonWAWisconsinWIWest VirginiaWVWyomingWYPuerto RicoPRSuperiorMichiganHuronErieAmericaPACIFIC OCEANATLANTIC OCEANGULF OF AMERICAWorcester County, MD: Coastal Flood WatchCurrituck County, NC: Coastal Flood WatchAccomack County, VA: Coastal Flood WatchIsle of Wight County, VA: Coastal Flood WatchJames City County, VA: Coastal Flood WatchNorthampton County, VA: Coastal Flood WatchSurry County, VA: Coastal Flood WatchChesapeake County, VA: Coastal Flood WatchNewport News County, VA: Coastal Flood WatchNorfolk County, VA: Coastal Flood WatchPortsmouth County, VA: Coastal Flood WatchSuffolk County, VA: Coastal Flood WatchVirginia Beach County, VA: Coastal Flood WatchWilliamsburg County, VA: Coastal Flood WatchDenali County, AK: Winter Storm WatchYukon-Koyukuk County, AK: Winter Storm WatchSoutheast Fairbanks County, AK: Winter Storm WatchFairbanks North Star County, AK: Winter Storm WatchBell County, KY: Freeze WarningBreathitt County, KY: Freeze WarningClay County, KY: Freeze WarningElliott County, KY: Freeze WarningFloyd County, KY: Freeze WarningHarlan County, KY: Freeze WarningJackson County, KY: Freeze WarningJohnson County, KY: Freeze WarningKnott County, KY: Freeze WarningKnox County, KY: Freeze WarningLaurel County, KY: Freeze WarningLee County, KY: Freeze WarningLeslie County, KY: Freeze WarningLetcher County, KY: Freeze WarningMagoffin County, KY: Freeze WarningMartin County, KY: Freeze WarningMenifee County, KY: Freeze WarningMorgan County, KY: Freeze WarningOwsley County, KY: Freeze WarningPerry County, KY: Freeze WarningPike County, KY: Freeze WarningRowan County, KY: Freeze WarningWhitley County, KY: Freeze WarningWolfe County, KY: Freeze WarningCarroll County, MD: Freeze WarningFrederick County, MD: Freeze WarningYork County, PA: Freeze WarningCulpeper County, VA: Freeze WarningFauquier County, VA: Freeze WarningLoudoun County, VA: Freeze WarningDare County, NC: Coastal Flood WarningHyde County, NC: Coastal Flood WarningFlood Warning until Oct 18, 4:15 PM ASTFlood Warning until Oct 18, 11:00 PM EDTFlood Warning until Oct 19, 9:15 AM EDT

The rings are the storms the radars detect, the larger ring a severe one; each line runs to where its storm will be in an hour if it keeps its present speed and heading. Rotation and hail are what the radars detect and the analysis measures, not warnings: the official watches and warnings in force are drawn on the map in their own colours and set out in full under Alerts.

What the hail track map shows

The largest hail at each place in the hour to each frame, in inches across: the swath each hail storm has cut across the ground. Played, the tracks draw out behind the storms as they move, the widest and longest under the strongest storms.

How to read it

Under 0.75 in
Small hail.
0.75 to 1 in
Penny to quarter.
1 to 1.75 in
Severe hail.
1.75 to 2.75 in
Golf ball to baseball.
Over 2.75 in
Giant hail.

What it is for

  • Find where hail has fallen, street by street, after a storm passes.
  • Check a car, a roof or a crop for damage, and when it was likely done.
  • Follow a hail storm’s path and the direction it is moving.

How it is made

The storm analysis joins every radar in the national network every two minutes into one picture of the country on a grid about two thirds of a mile across, cleaned of ground clutter, birds and insects, and measures from it what no single radar shows: the largest hail, the turning of the wind, how high a storm’s heavy echo reaches above the freezing level, and what is falling, read with the temperature of the air. Storm Station keeps it every ten minutes for a day, the gauged rain and the radars’ view each hour, and draws it at every zoom from the analysis’s own grid.

A frame every 10 minutes, played as a loop of 1 to 24 hours. As data: /radar/now.json?show=meshtrack, the times of its frames.

Beside it

Largest hail now

Hail size

Latest

The largest hail each storm is holding now, in inches across, every ten minutes: which storms carry hail, and how large.

.255 in

Open the map

Turning wind, last hour

Rotation track

Latest

The sharpest turning of the wind near the ground in the last hour, in mph across a mile: the path each rotating storm took.

10150 mph a mile

Open the map

Heavy echo above freezing

Hail core

Latest

How far above the freezing level each storm holds its heaviest echo, in thousands of feet: the taller the core, the larger the hail it can grow.

035,000 ft

Open the map