Old Town, FL Hail Storm – July 2026

What Happened

A severe hail-bearing storm moved through Old Town, FL on July 11, 2026, producing a peak 1.89-inch stone and multiple radar-detected hail cores from mid-afternoon into early evening. The event generated 13 NWS alerts between 2:30 PM EDT and 8:14 PM EDT, with a mix of NWS warning-only statements and dual-polarization radar hail detections.

The first NWS warning-only alert issued at 2:30 PM EDT noted smaller hail signatures near the metro area. Dual-polarization radar recorded stronger hail cores shortly after, with radar hail detections at 3:16 PM EDT and 3:27 PM EDT showing inch-class signatures. NWS warning-only messages continued through the late afternoon, punctuated by a radar-detected signature again at 5:48 PM EDT. The sequence closed with NWS warning-only alerts into the early evening, the final message at 8:14 PM EDT. mPING spotters reported dime-sized hail in Old Town at 3:31 PM EDT and again at 5:50 PM EDT, providing surface verification in two separate passes.

Radar-detected cores were spatially concentrated along a swath that tracked roughly northeast through the metro Old Town footprint. Several NWS warning-only alerts corresponded to peripheral cells where radar reflectivity suggested weak-to-moderate hail but lacked dual-polarization confirmation. The combination of radar-detected cores and spotter-verified dime reports indicates localized surface impact with intermittent stronger echoes on NEXRAD dual-polarization products.

Damage Assessment

Ground reports submitted to local storm channels consisted of two mPING observations, both describing dime (0.75 in.) hail at 3:31 PM EDT and 5:50 PM EDT in Old Town. Those spotter-verified observations were the only surface-size reports logged in the Local Storm Report stream for this event. Field reports did not include tree-fall, structural collapse, or widespread vehicle claims tied directly to these Old Town submissions.

Dual-polarization radar showed multiple elevated cores over the metro that produced higher radar-derived size estimates than the two surface reports. Those radar signatures were intermittent along the swath and concentrated where NEXRAD indicated stronger updraft cores in mid-afternoon and again near early evening. Damage that contractors find along this swath is most likely to be localized roof shingle bruising, softened metal denting, and granular loss on older asphalt surfaces where hail cores descended with stronger reflectivity.

Survey crews should prioritize properties along the contiguous radar swath through the Old Town metro. Focus initial inspections on south-facing roof slopes and vehicle exteriors in residential clusters that lie directly beneath the radar cores cited in the mid-afternoon and early evening detections. Document photographic evidence with timestamps and GPS coordinates to correlate field observations with the radar-detected swath.