Fort Lupton Hail Storm, August 22, 2026: What Homeowners Should Do Now
August 23, 2026
By Red Hawk Roofing
Preliminary report: based on radar-estimated data and early storm reports. We update every report once complete verified NWS data is available, typically within about 10 days.
Fort Lupton took 1 National Weather Service hail report so far on August 22, 2026, the largest at 1.00 inches. Reports came in at 5:25 PM MDT. More reports may still arrive; this is the picture as of publication.
The Fort Lupton hail map — August 22, 2026
Every hail report in and around Red Hawk’s service area so far
These are National Weather Service Local Storm Reports — hail an observer found on the ground, not a radar estimate. Times are MDT. “Measured” means the stone was physically measured; “reported” means a size category or description was relayed to the NWS — mPING and public descriptions are not measurements.
| Location | Size | Time | Source | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 W Fort Lupton | 1.00" | 5:25 PM | Public | reported |
The single report in the table is from the Fort Lupton area. A hail report names the largest stone an observer found, not the average size that fell across every roof in Fort Lupton.
Was your address in this one? We'll come look, free.
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Why 1.00-inch hail matters to an asphalt roof
Damage scales hard with stone size. A one-inch stone falls at about 41 mph and lands with roughly 1.3 joules of energy. A 1.75 inch stone falls at about 65 mph and lands with roughly 16 joules — about thirteen times the impact. Denver-area elevation adds another 8 to 10 percent to fall speed.
Published impact studies put the onset of functional damage near 1.00 inch for three-tab asphalt shingles, 1.25 inches for architectural shingles, and 2.00 inches for Class 4 impact-rated products. The largest report in Fort Lupton was 1.00 inches, at or near the threshold for three-tab shingles.
The damage usually is not visible from the ground. Hail bruises the shingle — fracturing the mat beneath a surface that still looks intact — and the bruised area then sheds its protective granules over the following months. A roof hit in June can look fine all summer and start leaking by winter.
Radar-estimated hail is not measured hail
Radar hail algorithms output a deliberate high-end estimate of what may exist inside a storm cloud, not a measurement of what landed on your roof. Radar estimates characteristically run above what observers actually recover. Treat the shaded swath on the map as the search area and the ground reports as the confirmed observations. If a contractor tells you radar showed three-inch hail at your address, ask whether anyone measured it.
What to do if you were under it
- Check from the ground, not the roof. Walking a hail-struck roof is how people get hurt.
- Look in your gutters. Granules washing off in quantity is the most common early sign.
- Check soft metal. Roof vents, gutters, flashing, the mailbox, AC condenser fins. Dents in soft metal date the storm.
- Photograph what you find with your phone. Phone photos carry a timestamp. Do not edit them.
- Get it inspected. Especially if this storm was months ago — that is exactly when bruising starts to surface.
Frequently asked questions
Was there hail in Fort Lupton on August 22, 2026?
Yes. The National Weather Service has logged 1 hail report so far in the Fort Lupton area on August 22, 2026, the largest at 1.00 inches.
How big was the hail in Fort Lupton?
The largest report so far was 1.00 inches. Bear in mind a hail report names the biggest stone an observer found, not what fell across the whole city.
What time did the hail hit Fort Lupton?
Reports came in at 5:25 PM MDT.
Is it too late to check my Fort Lupton roof from this storm?
No. Hail bruising fractures the shingle mat beneath an intact-looking surface, then sheds granules over the following months. Damage from this storm is often only becoming visible later, which makes this a good time to look.
Does my neighbor's undamaged roof mean mine is fine?
No. Hail swaths are narrow and damage varies street by street. Roof age, shingle type and slope orientation all change the outcome on the same block.
Red Hawk tracks every hail day across the Front Range. See our other storm reports for the rest of the 2026 season.
City-by-city reports and hail histories
For the full service-area picture — every report, the radar swath map and the county-wide totals — see our Colorado Hail Storm Report for August 22, 2026.
Not sure what to look for? Start with what hail damage looks like on a roof and the Colorado hail claim guide.
Red Hawk works Colorado roofs year round. We'll still be here next season.
Schedule My Free Inspectionor call (720) 771-8921
Storm figures are National Weather Service Local Storm Reports for Colorado on August 22, 2026 (local time), retrieved from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet archive as of August 23, 2026 and de-duplicated. Radar swath analysis by ExoVzn, an independent forensic meteorology firm, using NOAA MRMS data. Impact-energy and damage-threshold figures are from published hail impact research. Storm reports indicate where hail occurred; only a physical inspection establishes whether a specific roof was damaged.