Sterling to Fort Morgan: Softball Hail & a Tornado Rake Eastern Colorado — June 20–25, 2026

The eastern Colorado plains took a beating over six days in late June 2026. The most extreme hail fell on June 22, when supercells dropped softball-size hail (4.00") near Joes in Yuma County — among the largest hailstones reported anywhere in Colorado this year — along with 3.00" hail at Sterling, the largest town in Logan County. Hail that size doesn't just damage roofs; it caves in skylights, totals vehicles, and shreds siding.

The outbreak ran for days. On June 21, baseball-size hail (2.75") fell near Fleming, and a tornado was reported in the area, while an EF0 landspout was confirmed near Amherst in Phillips County. June 20 brought tennis-ball hail (2.50") to Atwood, and on June 24 the storms pushed west with tennis-ball hail (2.50") at Fort Morgan and 2" hail at Haxtun. Akron took the worst of the wind — the town was raked by repeated rounds of destructive thunderstorm gusts from June 23 through 25, with the official ASOS station at the Akron airport (KAKO) measuring a 96 mph gust and nearby mesonet sensors recording gusts even higher.

Colorado leads the nation in hail-damage insurance claims, and the high plains east of the Front Range sit squarely in hail alley. Damage from giant hail is often obvious — but plenty of it isn't, especially bruised shingles and broken granule surfaces that look fine from the ground while quietly failing. In Colorado you generally have only about a year from the date of the storm to file a claim, so it pays to have a roof looked at sooner rather than later.