Safford, AZ Hail Storm – August 2026

A severe hail storm is tracking through Safford, Arizona on August 5, 2026, producing stones up to 2.69 inches and generating repeated radar- and warning-driven alerts across the metro. Storm conditions remain active and may still be developing.

What Happened

The event began in mid-afternoon and continued into late evening, with the first NWS alert issued at 4:00 PM MST and the latest at 11:30 PM MST. The NWS issued 29 separate alerts for the Safford metro between those times. Seventeen alerts contained dual-polarization radar detections while 12 alerts were issued as NWS warning area notifications without radar-derived size estimates. Several radar-derived size estimates increased through the late afternoon and early evening period.

A trained spotter operating in the metro reported dime-to-quarter sized hail at about 7:38 PM MST. That spotter observation is recorded alongside multiple radar-detected hail reports as the storm tracked through and east of central Safford. Local storm reports and NWS warnings show rotating cells and discrete hail cores moving on a generally eastward path through the warning area.

Radar signatures included repeated dual-polarization hail detections and elevated reflectivity consistent with strong updrafts. Those radar detections appeared in clusters, with the most persistent radar-derived hail pockets arriving in early evening and continuing into the night. Several NWS warning area polygons were updated repeatedly as the storm complex moved across the metro and adjacent rural corridors.

Damage Assessment

Field observations from the trained spotter at 7:38 PM describe only small hail at that location and no immediate structural damage reported in the local storm reports tied to the Safford metro. Public reports and NWS local storm reports do not list roof or vehicle damage for the immediate spotter locations at this time.

Radar-detected larger hail pockets passed through parts of the NWS warning area outside the spotter locations. Those radar-indicated cores are mapped along the storm track east of central Safford and into surrounding rural sections. Where radar shows concentrated hail returns overlapping populated corridors, expect isolated roof and vehicle impacts; however, as of this snapshot, documented surface damage within the Safford metro is limited to the spotter observations noted above.

Field teams should treat areas inside the active warning area where radar-derived hail cores passed as higher priority for visual inspection. Focus initial surveys on neighborhoods and corridors that lie along the storm’s eastward track through the warning area. Record time-stamped photos and location coordinates for each observed impact. Preserve untrimmed imagery that shows both hail effects and intact reference objects for later sizing and third-party review.

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