Wagon Mound, NM Hail Storm – May 2026

A hail-producing storm tracked through Wagon Mound, New Mexico on May 23, 2026, producing stones up to 2.6 inches and prompting 30 NWS alerts. The event unfolded from mid-afternoon into the overnight hours with multiple radar-detected hail cores and a late-evening spotter report.

What Happened

The first NWS alert associated with this event arrived at 2:07 PM MDT, reporting roughly 1.05-inch hail detected by dual-polarization radar. Radar detections continued through the afternoon and evening, with notable returns around 3:08 PM and 5:42 PM showing radar-derived hail estimates near 1.6 inches and 1.5 inches respectively. A cluster of NWS warning-only alerts appeared intermittently after late afternoon, and advisory products persisted into the early morning of May 24.

A trained storm spotter submitted a local storm report at 10:26 PM MDT, describing pea-to-marble size hail on the ground near Wagon Mound. That field observation is logged as spotter-verified and aligns with the late-evening radar echoes over the metro area. One alert at 8:22 PM MDT combined radar detection with spotter verification and flagged 1.5-inch hail in the broader storm envelope. The NWS alert sequence totals 30 items covering radar-detected, radar-plus-spotter, and warning-only reports for the storm track.

Damage Assessment

Field reports and radar data indicate surface impacts concentrated near the village of Wagon Mound late on May 23. The NWS local storm report at 10:26 PM MDT noted pea-to-marble hail accumulation on roads and open ground in the village. No additional spotter reports of structural collapse or large-scale building failures appear in the NWS dataset for this event.

Radar-derived hail echoes across the Wagon Mound metro show a variable swath of hail intensity. Those echoes correspond with repeated NWS alerts that span residential clusters and adjacent rural properties. Where radar and spotter reports overlap, expect localized cosmetic damage to exposed exterior surfaces and vehicles. Reports do not document widespread roof failures in the NWS record; observable impacts in the dataset are limited to ground deposits and localized outdoor item damage.

Documented observations and radar hits are concentrated on the village and nearby rural parcels. Contractors should prioritize properties where spotter activity was recorded and where radar signatures repeatedly crossed the same coordinates during the late-evening period.

What Contractors Should Know

Start inspections at properties within and immediately surrounding Wagon Mound village, focusing on roofs, metal outbuildings, and parked vehicles. On-site checks should include close inspection of shingle edges, gutter lines, skylights, and HVAC condenser fins. For metal roofs and outbuildings, look for dent patterns consistent with mixed small and medium hail sizes. Photograph damage with a clear reference object and capture GPS coordinates for each photo.