Grand Rapids, MI Hail Storm – March 2026

What Happened

A severe hail storm moved through the Grand Rapids, MI metro on 2026-03-31, ending with a 1.5-inch peak hail report late in the event. The storm stayed in the warning area for several hours and produced a long run of spotter-reported hail alerts before daybreak.

The first NWS hail alert came at 11:13 PM EDT with 1-inch hail reported by a spotter. Additional 1-inch reports followed at 11:56 PM, 12:37 AM, 1:49 AM, 2:13 AM, 2:35 AM, and 3:03 AM EDT. Each alert kept the hail threat centered over the same metro corridor through the overnight hours.

By 4:39 AM EDT, the alert size increased to 1.5 inches. Field reports then followed shortly after. A spotter-verified report at 4:50 AM EDT noted time estimated via radar and listed 1-inch hail. Another spotter-verified report at 4:55 AM EDT also used radar-estimated timing and documented 0.88-inch hail. Those ground reports placed verified hail on the ground near the end of the event window.

Damage Assessment

The field reports point to a narrow but persistent hail corridor across the Grand Rapids metro before sunrise. Radar and spotter data both showed repeated hail production, with verified stones near 1 inch and a late-event spike to 1.5 inches in the warning area.

The report at 4:50 AM EDT described hail timing estimated from radar, which is common when storms pass overnight and direct observation is limited. The 4:55 AM EDT report, also radar-timed, measured 0.88-inch hail. Together, the reports indicate hail impact near the end of the sequence and support a surface impact zone that persisted through the last hours of the storm.

For contractors, the field picture suggests scattered but repeatable roof, gutter, and soft-metal exposure across the metro rather than a single brief hail burst. Repeated 1-inch alerts over several hours usually leave mixed claims patterns. Some properties take only cosmetic marks. Others pick up concentrated impacts on south- and west-facing slopes, ridge caps, screens, vents, and thin aluminum trim.

The overnight timing matters for inspection planning. Crews working this event should expect fewer eyewitness accounts than in a daytime storm. Review elevations, roof pitches, and the most exposed travel corridors first. The repeated alert structure also suggests multiple impact passes may be present in the same neighborhood, especially where the storm held a steady path through the metro before the 4:39 AM escalation.

What Contractors Should Know

Start with the Grand Rapids core and work outward through the metro in the order the overnight alerts developed. The sequence points to a long-lived hail track rather than a fast one-pass cell. In practice, that means more roofs may show light to moderate impact with isolated heavier concentrations where the storm held together longest.