Berkeley Springs, WV Hail Storm – August 2026

A hail-producing storm tracked through the Berkeley Springs, WV area on August 10, 2026, producing stones up to 2.04 inches and a long sequence of NWS warning-area alerts. The storm progressed from mid-morning into the overnight hours, with multiple radar-detected hail signatures and spotter-verified impacts in nearby zones.

What Happened

NWS warning-area alerts began mid-morning and continued in repeated updates through the late evening and into early August 11. The alert stream included frequent NWS warning-only reports of quarter-sized hail and larger, punctuated by several dual-polarization radar detections indicating larger cores. Dual-polarization radar detected elevated hail signatures around 2:46 PM EDT and again near 3:38 PM EDT. A later radar-detected core appeared in the early evening around 6:23 PM EDT. Alerts persisted into the overnight period with additional radar-detected returns shortly after 1:00 AM EDT on August 11.

The sequence shows a sustained convective corridor rather than a single isolated cell. Early alerts around mid-morning were smaller in magnitude; alert sizes increased in the afternoon and re-intensified in the evening. NWS warning-area messaging was the primary operational signal for most of the event. Dual-polarization radar detections provided targeted evidence of stronger hail cores at several points during the storm cycle. A spotter on the western side of Poquoson, VA reported 1-inch hail and several fallen trees at 6:59 PM EDT, providing ground verification for the evening core.

Damage Assessment

Field reports and radar data together indicate localized surface impacts where the strongest cores crossed populated areas. The spotter-verified report from western Poquoson, VA documents tree failures associated with the evening core. That observation aligns with the radar return recorded near 6:23 PM EDT and with contemporaneous NWS warning-area alerts covering the corridor.

Public reports and warning-area messaging from August 10–11 show widespread occurrences of pea- to nickel-sized hail across multiple counties, with recurrent warning-area updates focused on residential and exurban corridors. Ground reports of tree damage were confined to the Poquoson observation submitted at 6:59 PM EDT. No additional spotter-verified structural failures were received in the available field reports for the Berkeley Springs metro footprint, though radar-detected large hail cores crossed populated segments of the warning area earlier in the afternoon.

Surface impacts most consistent with the collected evidence include branch failures and localized vegetation damage in the Poquoson sector and isolated shingle bruising and denting where the afternoon and evening radar cores intersected developed areas. Insurance and relief stakeholders should reference the NWS warning-area timeline and the evening spotter report when prioritizing field canvasses.

Berkeley Springs, WV Hail Storm – August 2026

NWS WARNING AREAS · 104

What Happened

Damage Assessment

Storm Details

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