Salina, KS Hail Storm – September 2025

What Happened

A severe hail storm moved through the Salina, KS metro on September 3, 2025, with verified hail reports reaching 2.75 inches during the late afternoon and evening. The event produced multiple radar-supported alerts across the corridor, with spotter input confirming the strongest stones near Ramona and nearby report points.

The first high-end alert came at 4:56 PM CDT, when radar and spotter verification supported 2.75-inch hail. Additional alerts followed through the evening, including 2-inch and 1.5-inch hail at 5:18 PM CDT, 5:24 PM CDT, 5:30 PM CDT, 5:33 PM CDT, and 5:41 PM CDT. A 2.5-inch signal was detected at 5:44 PM CDT, then repeated 2.75-inch alerts returned at 6:06 PM CDT, 6:24 PM CDT, and 6:56 PM CDT.

Field reports lined up with that sequence. At 5:56 PM CDT, a spotter report logged quarter-size hail. At 6:00 PM CDT and 6:02 PM CDT, additional reports from the Ramona area noted quarter-size hail and two-inch hail. By 6:04 PM CDT, mPING reports documented ping pong ball-size hail. At 6:09 PM CDT, a spotter report from Ramona recorded 3-inch hail. Later radar passes kept detecting large hail cores, including 2.5-inch and 2.75-inch alerts at 7:10 PM CDT, 7:20 PM CDT, 7:39 PM CDT, and 8:05 PM CDT.

The storm did not fade quickly. Two later dual-polarization radar detections at 8:11 PM CDT and 8:15 PM CDT still indicated hail in the 1.75-inch to 1.25-inch range as the system exited the area.

Damage Assessment

The field reports point to a concentrated hail impact zone near Ramona, with multiple spotter-verified observations of one-inch to three-inch hail within a short window. The 6:09 PM CDT 3-inch report stands out as the largest ground truth in the set, and the nearby 2-inch and 1.5-inch reports show a corridor of damaging stones rather than a single isolated drop.

The pattern also includes repeated large-hail detections on radar through the evening. That combination supports a storm track with several hail cores passing across the metro area and adjacent communities. The quarter-size and ping pong ball-size reports suggest a wider area of roof, siding, and vehicle exposure outside the heaviest swath, while the larger Ramona report points to more concentrated impact in the hardest-hit pockets.

For property owners, the first places to check are roofs, soft metals, vents, gutters, skylights, and vehicle surfaces. In a storm with this many large-hail passes, damage can appear in bands rather than across every block. One block may show clear bruising or broken shingles while another only sees denting on exposed surfaces.

Tree and landscape checks should follow the same pattern. Look for stripped leaves, broken small limbs, and impact marks on fences, AC fins, and window screens. The report set does not show a broad wind event, so the visible issues are more likely to be hail-driven than debris from straight-line wind.