4 Factors That Decide How Severe Hailstorm Damage Is

When your car is outside and you’ve forgotten to shelter it in your garage the moment a hailstorm arrives, you might be looking at vehicular damage—dented roofs, shattered windshields, broken side mirrors, and the like.

But this pales in comparison to what damage a hailstorm can wreak on your home, particularly your roof. A roof repair specialist, however, shares that not all roof damage is equal when it comes to damage from hail—four aspects of how hail falls can contribute to how severe the damage can be. In today’s post, your trusted roofing company, The Great American Roofing Company, discusses these four aspects.

1. Hailstone Size

Hail is formed when water freezes in the upper atmosphere, and then it falls to the ground without recondensing. As a result, hailstones come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from smaller than a penny to one the size of a golf ball (or even larger). Obviously, the larger the size of the hailstone, the bigger the potential damage.

2. Hailstone Density

Denser hailstones often deal more damage to any surface it comes in contact with because of its momentum. These often look “darker” than other kinds of hail. Dense hailstones like this often belong to the “true hailstone” type, which are larger and have higher terminal velocities than softer or smaller pellets also called hailstones. A sustained storm with this kind of hailstones often requires roof replacement.

3. Hailstone Speed

The maximum speed of hailstones, or its terminal velocity, are one of the biggest contributors to damage. A smaller hailstone, for example, can cause much more damage than a larger or denser one with lower terminal velocity. Some hailstones travel at 130 feet per second, which, if big or dense enough, can penetrate a roof or be lethal to people caught outside.

4. Roof Slope

Hailstones cause more damage the flatter the angle of the roof it comes across, because force is not dispersed by gravity. By contrast, a sloping roof tends to dissipate the force, allowing the hailstone to roll over it instead of puncturing it completely. Pitched roofs are more common in hailstorm-prone areas, and flat ones use special protection to defend against hailstorms.

Learn why homeowners like you trust The Great American Roofing Company to address any roof leak caused by hailstorms and other problems. You can join the ranks of discerning homeowners by calling us today at (201) 825-2955. You can also fill out our form to get started.