Gatesville, TX Hail Storm – April 2026

What Happened

A severe hail storm moved through Gatesville, TX on April 12, 2026, producing a peak hail size of 3.25 inches. The event included multiple NWS warning areas and repeated radar-detected hail signatures through the afternoon and evening.

The first alert came at 2:57 PM CDT with 1-inch hail tied to a spotter report. By 3:26 PM CDT, mPING had a quarter-size report, or 1.00 inch, which matched the early storm history in and around Gatesville. Later in the day, dual-polarization radar detected renewed hail growth at 6:50 PM CDT with 1-inch hail, then 2-inch hail at 7:07 PM CDT, followed by 1.25-inch hail at 7:21 PM CDT.

The storm remained active into the evening. Radar continued to map hail at 8:09 PM CDT with 1-inch hail, then a spotter report at 8:14 PM CDT placed 1.5-inch hail in the field. Additional radar detections followed at 9:11 PM CDT and 9:27 PM CDT with 1.75-inch hail, then 1.5-inch hail at 10:11 PM CDT, 1-inch hail at 10:13 PM CDT, and 1.75-inch hail at 10:46 PM CDT.

This was a multi-cycle hail event. The field report at 3:26 PM CDT and the later spotter report at 8:14 PM CDT gave the storm ground truth at different stages of its life cycle. Radar showed the hail core rebuilding and persisting across several hours.

Damage Assessment

The surface report trail in Gatesville shows hail reaching the ground in more than one burst, with spotter verification at both 3:26 PM CDT and 8:14 PM CDT. That pattern points to repeated impacts across the city rather than a single brief pass.

The early 1-inch hail report arrived before the stronger evening radar detections. The later 1.5-inch spotter report lined up with the radar trend toward larger stones during the evening hours. The progression from 1 inch to 2 inches, then back through several 1.75-inch and 1.5-inch radar estimates, shows a storm that stayed organized long enough to keep producing damaging hail over time.

For Gatesville properties, the most practical concern is roof and exterior exposure from repeated hail strikes. Single-story roofs, older shingles, soft metal surfaces, skylights, gutters, and vehicle glass are the first places to check. The longer duration of the storm also raises the chance that more than one side of a structure took hits as the hail core shifted.

Crews should expect mixed damage reports in the same town. Some properties may show only light impacts from the 1-inch phase, while others in the later hail path may show heavier exterior damage from the larger evening stones. Siding bruises, dented fence caps, and granular loss on asphalt roofs are all plausible in a storm with this kind of repeated hail history.

What Contractors Should Know

This is the kind of Gatesville event that calls for careful block-by-block inspection. The storm did not peak once and fade. It produced several radar-backed hail cycles and at least two spotter-verified reports separated by hours. Roof claims may cluster along the later evening path, while earlier reports may be tied to lighter but still serviceable hail impacts.