Melrose, IA Hail Storm – April 2026

A severe hail storm tracked through Melrose, IA on April 17, 2026, producing 2.5-inch stones and a series of radar-detected hail swaths across the town. The event concluded late afternoon after a concentrated period of warnings and spotter reports.

What Happened

Between 2:47 PM CDT and 3:39 PM CDT the NWS issued 22 alerts covering the Melrose warning area. Alerts began at 2:47 PM CDT with an initial 1.00-inch hail advisory and continued through repeated 1.00–1.75-inch warnings. A dual-polarization radar detection was recorded at 3:15 PM CDT during the storm’s main corridor. Multiple NWS warning-only products were the primary operational guidance for crews in the field.

Field reports were the primary ground-truth for this event. Spotters submitted two larger reports with time and location estimated from radar at 2:55 PM CDT and 3:10 PM CDT. Additional spotter-verified observations included a 1.75-inch report around 3:05 PM CDT and a string of social-media and mPING submissions reporting roughly 1.00-inch stones between 3:08 PM CDT and 4:00 PM CDT. Those social-media and mPING reports clustered in the town’s eastern quarter and near the northern outskirts, while the radar-derived swath tracked from southwest to northeast across Melrose.

Radar returned repeated hail signatures across a narrow corridor. Most NWS alerts during the sequence carried a "NWS warning only" designation, while the 3:15 PM CDT detection was explicitly radar-detected via dual-polarization processing. Spotter-verified reports aligned with the radar corridor, providing matched timing at 2:55 PM CDT and 3:10 PM CDT.

Damage Assessment

Field reports and radar indicate concentrated surface impact along Melrose’s northern and eastern corridors. Spotter-verified larger reports at 2:55 PM CDT and 3:10 PM CDT were recorded inside that corridor. Social-media and mPING submissions of quarter-size hail were recorded across central Melrose between 3:08 PM CDT and 3:51 PM CDT.

Public submissions referenced localized vehicle panel dings and isolated broken tree limbs in addresses near the northern edge of town. Inspectors in the area reported multiple quarter-inch to near-quarter-inch accumulations on lawns and windshields in the downtown grid. There are no aggregated municipal damage assessments posted yet. NWS warning-area alerts covered a wider path than the radar-detected swath and should not be interpreted as precise impact lines.

Documented field times to prioritize for on-site verification are 2:55 PM CDT and 3:10 PM CDT, where spotter-verified observations tied to radar estimates indicate the most significant surface exchange. Follow-up imagery from social-media reports between 3:32 PM CDT and 4:00 PM CDT shows localized glass and siding scuffs in single-family residential areas east of the main corridor.

What Contractors Should Know