Omaha, NE Hail Storm – April 2026

What Happened

A severe hail storm crossed the Omaha, NE metro on April 3, 2026, with spotter-verified reports and radar detections reaching 2.75 inches. The storm produced multiple hail alerts from mid-afternoon into early evening.

The first alert came at 2:23 PM CDT with 2.75-inch hail tied to radar and spotter verification. At the same time, a separate report called for 1-inch hail from spotter observation. Additional 2.75-inch alerts followed at 2:56 PM CDT, 2:59 PM CDT, and 3:42 PM CDT. A 3:02 PM CDT public report estimated hail up to quarter size, and a 3:35 PM CDT field report described golf ball sized hail, estimated from radar timing.

Later in the event, alerts shifted to 2.25-inch hail at 4:12 PM CDT and 4:31 PM CDT, with spotter reports of 1-inch and 1.5-inch hail at 4:26 PM CDT and 4:31 PM CDT. By 5:00 PM CDT, two additional reports relayed from media again pointed to golf ball sized hail, and two 5:02 PM CDT reports described the largest stones as ping pong ball sized. A final 6:19 PM CDT alert detected 1-inch hail using dual-polarization radar.

Damage Assessment

The field reports point to a long hail corridor with several rounds of impacts across the Omaha metro. The repeated golf ball and ping pong ball descriptions place the strongest surface impacts in the mid-afternoon to early evening window, with smaller quarter-size reports appearing before and after the peak hail core.

The reports did not read like a single isolated strike. They came in waves. That pattern suggests repeated hail bursts across the warning area rather than one short-lived burst. The 3:35 PM CDT golf ball report and the 5:00 PM CDT media-relayed golf ball reports stand out as the clearest ground truth. The 5:02 PM CDT ping pong ball reports show a second round of sizable hail later in the event.

Radar and spotter verification also line up closely with the field reports. The 2.75-inch alerts came early and repeated several times, then stepped down to 2.25 inches later in the afternoon. The 1-inch dual-polarization detection at 6:19 PM CDT matches the lighter end of the report set and shows hail still present into the evening.

For Omaha addresses inside the warning area, the mix of 1-inch to golf ball sized reports points to uneven hail exposure across the metro. Some locations likely saw only brief small hail. Others sat under larger stones several times during the event.

What Contractors Should Know

This event favored a broad Omaha metro response rather than a single neighborhood claim cluster. The report times stretch from 2:23 PM CDT to 6:19 PM CDT, and the hail sizes moved from quarter size to 2.75 inches. Roof and soft-metal inspections should start with the areas that sat under the stronger mid-afternoon hail bursts, then expand to later-afternoon paths where 2.25-inch and 1.5-inch reports were filed.