Hardy, NE Hail Storm – April 2026

What Happened

A severe hail storm is tracking through Hardy, NE, on April 9, 2026, with the largest verified stones reaching 3 inches as the event continues to develop. The storm has produced repeated hail signatures from late afternoon through the evening, with both spotter reports and dual-polarization radar showing a sustained hail threat.

The first hail alerts came in at 5:23 PM CDT and 5:27 PM CDT, with 1-inch and 1.25-inch hail detected in the warning area. Radar then began tightening through the early evening. By 5:57 PM CDT, dual-polarization radar was showing 1.75-inch hail, and spotters were reporting similar stone sizes in the same general storm path.

At 5:59 PM CDT, trained spotters reported 1.5-inch hail, and radar showed another 1-inch hail detection at the same time. Additional radar and spotter reports kept coming through the next hour. At 6:21 PM CDT, mPING reports came in with golf ball hail, or 1.75 inches, followed by more field checks at 6:33 PM CDT showing 1.25-inch hail. A 6:10 PM CDT report also placed quarter-size hail, or 1 inch, in the storm path.

Radar detections continued to cycle upward again late in the evening. The storm reached 2-inch hail detections at 6:59 PM CDT, 7:51 PM CDT, and 7:58 PM CDT. Additional radar alerts through 8:23 PM CDT kept showing hail from 1 inch to 1.75 inches, with the last listed alerts at 9:22 PM CDT and 9:37 PM CDT still showing 1-inch hail in the warning area.

Damage Assessment

The field reports show hail reaching golf ball size in and near Hardy, with several spotter-verified reports clustering around 5:59 PM CDT and 6:21 PM CDT. That puts the storm in a range where roof, siding, and vehicle impacts are plausible across exposed areas, especially where the larger stones were reported in repeated passes.

The heaviest ground-truth reports came from multiple observers reporting 1.5-inch hail at 5:59 PM CDT and multiple mPING checks at 6:21 PM CDT with 1.75-inch stones. Radar detections later increased to 2 inches and then to 3 inches maximum confirmed hail size in the broader storm set, while earlier and later alerts held in the 1-inch to 1.75-inch range. The pattern points to a storm with fluctuating hail intensity rather than a single brief burst.

Current reporting does not include a detailed damage survey from the town center, but the repeated spotter checks and radar-derived hail detections indicate a broad hail swath across the warning area. Contractors should expect scattered impacts rather than a uniform line of damage. Vehicle lots, south- and west-facing roof slopes, and older shingles in open exposure corridors are the first places to inspect.

What Contractors Should Know

Hardy sits in the path of a storm that is still producing hail detections into the evening. Field crews should treat any fresh roof call in the area as part of an evolving hail sequence, not a single isolated hit. Initial inspections should start with front elevations, slope breaks, and soft metal surfaces where 1.25-inch to 1.75-inch hail can leave visible marks before shingle bruising becomes obvious.