Kiowa, CO Hail Storm – September 2026

A severe hail storm tracked through Kiowa, Colorado on September 19, 2026, producing 3.61-inch stones and a series of radar-detected and spotter-verified hail reports from mid-afternoon into the evening.

What Happened

The event began in the early afternoon with the first radar-detected hail signature at 1:23 PM MDT and continued as the parent storm moved east-southeast across eastern Elbert and neighboring counties. NWS warning areas expanded and shifted through the late afternoon; StormSnipe recorded 18 separate NWS alerts tied to the system, including multiple dual-polarization radar detections and several spotter-verified observations. Around 3:52 PM MDT dual-polarization radar indicated a strong signature with larger cores, followed shortly by spotter-verified reports during the late afternoon. At 4:43 PM MDT a radar detection coincided with spotter verification of large stones. The storm remained active into the early evening with repeated radar-detected hail cells and NWS warning area issuances through about 8:30 PM MDT.

Spotters provided multiple ground reports along the storm track. Several spotters at 5:20 PM MDT reported measured 3.00-inch hail. A 5:54 PM MDT spotter report recorded 2.00 to 2.25-inch hail near Bethune, and an early evening emergency management relay noted golf ball size hail near Selkirk at 8:15 PM MDT. A separate observation at 7:00 PM MDT recorded 1.00-inch hail. These field reports matched periods when the radar showed high reflectivity and hail signatures passing through the local warning areas.

Damage Assessment

Field reports and radar detections show the most significant surface impacts clustered along the late-afternoon to early-evening portion of the track east of Kiowa and toward Bethune and Selkirk. Multiple spotters measured multi-inch stones at 5:20 PM MDT in the immediate Kiowa corridor, and a measured 2.00–2.25-inch report near Bethune at 5:54 PM MDT indicates a swath of damaging-size hail progressed eastward. Emergency management reported golf ball size hail near Selkirk at 8:15 PM MDT, consistent with radar-detected hail cores that persisted into the evening.

Observed impacts from field reports included concentrated large-stone occurrences at discrete locations rather than uniform coverage across the entire warning areas. Local reports of measured stones and repeated spotter confirmations indicate direct roof, vehicle, and agricultural exposure in the measured locations. Where spotters recorded multi-inch stones, the ground reports describe concentrated piles of broken vegetation and denting on parked vehicles within the immediate observation points. Locations with only smaller, quarter- to golf-ball-size observations reported isolated cosmetic and superficial impacts in the spotter notes.

Damage mapped by radar signatures and spotter locations shows the most pronounced surface effects east of Kiowa and along the line toward Bethune and Selkirk. Emergency management relays and spotter-verified measurements provide location-specific evidence of larger stones at discrete sites, while other portions of the warning areas recorded weaker radar returns and smaller reported stones.