Amarillo, TX Hail Storm – September 2026

A severe hail storm tracked through Amarillo, TX on September 10, 2026, producing 2.71-inch stones and a radar-detected hail swath across the metro in the early evening. The event unfolded over a four-hour window as multiple NWS alerts and spotter reports captured escalating hail intensity.

What Happened

Nine NWS alerts were issued between 5:08 PM and 9:03 PM CDT. Several alerts were warning-only notifications. Dual-polarization radar detected hail signatures at 5:39 PM, 6:55 PM, and most prominently at 7:25 PM CDT. The 7:25 PM radar return indicated a 2.48-inch hail signal along the western edge of the metro.

Spotter reports anchored the surface timeline. At 5:33 PM CDT a trained spotter reported quarter-size hail beginning and moved to half-dollar stones by 5:35 PM CDT. At 6:02 PM CDT spotters measured the largest surface stone reported in the event — 2.25 inches — in Lake Tanglewood as the storm passed through. The sequence shows an early evening pulse of quarter- to half-dollar hail, a measured 2.25-inch occurrence in Lake Tanglewood, and later radar-detected cores that peaked near 7:25 PM CDT.

The NWS warnings and radar detections were clustered across the central and western portions of the Amarillo metro. Warning-only notifications preceded and followed radar-detected returns, indicating periods where the NWS maintained public safety advisories while radar continued to resolve hail-bearing cores.

Damage Assessment

Field reports document surface impacts concentrated in Lake Tanglewood and nearby neighborhoods where spotters recorded the largest stones. The Lake Tanglewood spotter submission at 6:02 PM CDT identified a 2.25-inch stone as the largest measured on the ground. Trained spotters in the central metro logged quarter- and half-dollar hail beginning at 5:33 PM CDT and 5:35 PM CDT respectively. Radar detections later in the evening show a pronounced return near 7:25 PM CDT that aligns with the west-northwest transit of the storm across the metro.

No spotter-submitted damage narratives accompanied the size measurements in the field reports provided. Where spotters measured 1.25-inch to 2.25-inch stones, expect localized surface impacts consistent with those stone sizes. The observed pattern is concentrated pockets of larger stones within a broader corridor of 1.0-inch to 1.25-inch hail indicated by multiple NWS warnings and earlier radar returns.

What Contractors Should Know

Prioritize inspections in Lake Tanglewood and neighborhoods along the west-northwest radar swath. Start with roofs on properties that are directly within the 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM CDT time corridor. Photograph suspected damage with an object for scale and capture GPS coordinates or a clear street address. For roofing, look for shingle bruising, granule loss in exposed gutters and downspouts, and surface scuffs on low-slope or flat membranes.