Colorado's August Hail Surge: What the Radar Recorded August 3–10, 2026

Most people think of July as Colorado's peak hail month. And it often is. But August has a habit of surprising homeowners who've already exhaled after a quiet few weeks — and the first ten days of August 2026 are a good reminder of that.

I'm a residential roofer on the Front Range with about three years of field experience, and I also built HailScore — a free tool that pulls together NOAA radar data so homeowners can see the documented hail exposure history for any address. This past week the data was busy. Let me walk through what the radar picked up and what it actually means for your home.

What the MRMS Data Showed

NOAA's Multi-Radar Multi-Sensor (MRMS) system estimates hail size and location from radar returns in near-real time. It's not a physical measurement — it's a model estimate — but it's the most consistent, address-level dataset we have for tracking which neighborhoods got hit and how hard.

Here's the daily Colorado activity from August 3–10, counted as distinct radar cells (each roughly 1 km²) where MRMS estimated hail:

August 6 and 7 were the size peak — the radar estimated hail up to about 2.1 inches, right in golf-ball territory. August 9 and 10 were the footprint peak, with hail estimated across close to 1,000 distinct cells each day as the activity spread out. August 8 was the quiet day: nine cells statewide, topping out under an inch. The overall pattern — a footprint that widened from a couple hundred cells early in the week to nearly 1,000 by the weekend, with one near-silent day in the middle — usually means a broader storm system moved through rather than one isolated cell.

A note on the numbers, added August 12: this table was corrected after publication. Four of the eight days (Aug 3, 4, 6, 8) were first published from an incomplete read of the feed and have been restated from the same MRMS source of truth. Two related caveats, because they matter for reading the table honestly: August 3 is still the thinnest day of coverage we hold, so its cell count is a floor rather than a full tally; and one stuck grid cell near the Nebraska line reported an implausible 8.85 inches repeatedly on August 8–9, which is a known single-pixel radar artifact and is excluded from the peaks above.

Two-inch estimates are in "golf ball approaching" territory. That's the range where asphalt shingles — especially anything older than ten years — can take real functional damage even if it isn't immediately obvious from the ground.

What This Does NOT Tell You

Here's where I want to be straight with you, because I've seen this misunderstood constantly: MRMS data and the HailScore report tell you about radar-estimated hail EXPOSURE at or near your address. They do not confirm physical damage to your roof.

A 2-inch MRMS estimate a few tenths of a mile from your house means the radar picked up a strong signature in that cell. It does not mean your shingles are cracked, your gutters are dented, or that you have a valid insurance claim. That determination requires a physical inspection by a qualified roofer or adjuster who gets eyes on your actual roof.

I say this not to hedge — I say it because the roofing industry has a long tradition of over-promising what storm data means, and homeowners deserve a straight answer. The data is a reason to look, not a guaranteed finding.

The 2026 Season in Context

Between May 13 and August 10, 2026, MRMS logged 68 separate hail days across Colorado at its 0.75-inch floor. That counts distinct Mountain-Time dates: MRMS publishes a trailing 24-hour maximum, so a date whose readings only repeated the day before is the same hail, not a second hail day. (The Colorado hail statistics page counts the same way but at a 1-inch floor, so its season number is smaller than this one.) That is every hail day in the archive we hold, not a calendar-year total — the MRMS feed rolls off after roughly ninety days, so this is a three-month window that happens to cover the heart of the season. To put that in perspective: Colorado's most active Front Range counties typically average 7–10 significant hail events per year in NOAA's historical ground records. MRMS captures far more days because it sees smaller, shorter-duration hail that ground observers often miss entirely — which is exactly why radar coverage is useful for spotting exposure your neighbors might not even have noticed.

The HailScore database now holds more than 34.4M+ NOAA-linked hail records across all sources, including over 8.6M+ NEXRAD radar hail signatures — every one of them tagged to a geographic point and timestamped. When you look up your address on HailScore, you're pulling from that full history, not just this week's storm.

Where This Activity Actually Was — and Where It Wasn't

Here's the part that matters most, and it cuts against what you'd assume from the headline numbers: this activity was not on the Front Range. The August 7–10 cells sat out on Colorado's far eastern plains, toward the Kansas and Nebraska lines — roughly ninety miles east of the I-25 corridor at the closest point.

Within fifteen miles of Fort Collins, Loveland, Greeley, Longmont, Boulder, and Denver, MRMS recorded no hail cells at all during August 3–10. Not small ones — none. (MRMS logs down to 0.75 inch, so that is a real zero, not a rounding artifact.)

I'm pointing this out because search interest for "Fort Collins hail damage" climbed this week, and rising search interest is not evidence of a storm. Sometimes it tracks real weather; this time the radar does not back it up for the northern Front Range. If a contractor knocks on a Fort Collins door this month citing "the August storms," the radar record for these dates does not support a local hit — ask which date and which storm they mean.

If you want the actual answer for your own property rather than a regional guess, pull the hail history for your Colorado address — it reads the same NOAA and radar record this post is built on, address by address.

A Quick Field Checklist (Before You Call Anyone)

After three years of post-storm inspections across the Denver metro and north Front Range, here are the things I look at first — things homeowners can check themselves before deciding whether to bring in a roofer:

From the ground:

Dents on aluminum gutters, downspouts, or AC condenser fins — these show up clearly and indicate hail size without getting on the roof

Splatter patterns on painted wood surfaces (fence posts, deck rails, fascia boards) — look for fresh paint chips in circular patterns

Window screen punctures or bent screen frames

From a ladder (if safe):

Soft spots or bruising on asphalt shingles — press gently with your thumb near ridge caps and field shingles; impact damage often feels spongy

Missing granules concentrated in small circular areas, distinct from general weathering streaks

Cracked or split wood shakes (if you have them)

If you see dented gutters and pocked screens but the shingles look fine from the ground, you may still have granule damage that isn't visible without a close-up look. A free inspection from a reputable local roofer — one who isn't pressuring you to sign anything on the spot — is the right next move.

The Contractor Angle Nobody Talks About

August is when the "storm-chaser" dynamic really heats up. After a visible storm, trucks from out-of-state show up the next morning canvassing neighborhoods. I'm not saying every out-of-state crew is a bad actor, but I've personally seen the aftermath of rushed jobs by contractors who were gone before the first winter — missing step flashing, improperly seated ridge caps, valleys that pooled water.

The safest move is to work with someone local who has a physical address in Colorado, can be reached after the job, and ideally has a relationship with your insurance adjuster network. If you're uncertain whether you even have damage worth claiming, start with the data, not the salesperson. Look up your address first. See what NOAA recorded. Then decide whether a professional inspection makes sense.

Check Your Address Now

HailScore is free for homeowners. Enter your address and get the full NOAA-sourced hail exposure history — every recorded event within range, the estimated size, and how your property's roof age and material factor into the risk picture. No signup required for the basic report.

Look up your Colorado address at myhailscore.com

If you see multiple events in the 1.5"+ range overlapping your roof's current age, that's the signal to get a physical inspection scheduled before the season is fully over. Colorado's hail window typically runs through September — there's still time for more activity before the Front Range settles into fall.

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HailScore uses NOAA NEXRAD radar data, MRMS hail estimates, NOAA Storm Events records, and CoCoRaHS volunteer reports. All scores reflect radar-estimated hail exposure — not confirmed roof damage. Physical inspection by a qualified roofing professional is required to assess actual damage.