Spring is when the Midwest takes its hardest hits. Warm air moving up from the south collides with cold air still sitting over Missouri, Kansas, Illinois and Indiana, and the result is the hail and straight-line wind that fills our schedule every April and May.
The damage from those storms is often not dramatic. A roof can be functionally compromised and still look completely normal from the street, which is exactly why so many claims get filed late or never filed at all.
What does hail damage actually look like on a shingle?
Hail does not usually punch holes. It bruises. The impact crushes the mat underneath the surface and knocks the protective granules loose, and that spot then weathers far faster than the shingle around it.
What you are looking for:
- Dark spots where granules are missing and the black asphalt underneath shows through.
- A soft, bruised feel — like the give in a bruised apple — when the spot is pressed.
- Random scatter. Hail hits with no pattern. Anything in neat rows is manufacturing or foot traffic, not hail.
- Granules in the gutters and at the downspout outlets. Some granule loss is normal aging; a sudden pile after a storm is not.
The important part about hail bruising is that it may not leak for two or three years. The shingle’s life gets cut short at the moment of impact, and the leak arrives long after the claim window has closed.
How is wind damage different from hail damage?
Wind works on the edges and the seal strip rather than the surface. Look for:
- Creasing — a horizontal line across a shingle where it folded back and laid down again. That shingle is finished even though it is still in place.
- Missing tabs, most often along ridges, rakes and the windward slope.
- Lifted shingles that no longer feel sealed when gently pushed up.
- Damaged ridge caps, which take the worst of it on most homes.
Straight-line wind events in our region regularly hit 60 to 80 mph, which is enough to break the seal on shingles that are otherwise in good condition.
What can you safely check from the ground?
Stay off the roof. Wet or hail-damaged shingles are genuinely dangerous, and walking a bruised roof adds damage that complicates a claim. Everything below can be done from the ground or a window:
- Walk the perimeter and look at gutters, downspouts and gutter aprons for dents. Soft metals dent before shingles bruise, so they are your best early tell.
- Check the soft metals up high with binoculars or a phone zoom — vents, pipe boots, valley metal, chimney flashing.
- Look at anything else in the yard that hail would hit: the AC condenser fins, mailbox, grill lid, deck rail, car hoods. Dents there mean the roof took the same impact.
- Check window screens, siding and garage doors on the side the storm came from.
- Look in the attic with a flashlight for daylight, wet decking or staining at the nails.
How should you document it for the insurance claim?
Documentation is what separates a claim that pays from a claim that gets argued. Do this before anyone starts repairs:
- Record the storm date. Insurers settle by date of loss. If you are not sure, local news coverage and NOAA storm reports establish it.
- Photograph wide, then close. A wide shot establishing the elevation, then close-ups of each damaged item. Wide-only photos get denied; close-only photos cannot be located on the house.
- Get dates into the images. Phone photos carry timestamps automatically — do not screenshot them, which strips the data.
- Photograph the collateral damage too — the AC fins, the dented gutters, the shredded screens. This is often what convinces an adjuster the hail was large enough to matter.
- Keep receipts for emergency work like tarping. Reasonable emergency mitigation is typically reimbursable.
- Write down what you saw and heard — hail size compared to a coin, how long it fell, wind direction.
How long do you have to file?
This is where most homeowners lose money. Policies carry reporting deadlines, and while they vary, waiting is never the safe option. Two things work against you as time passes: the insurer can argue the damage came from a different, uncovered event, and normal weathering starts to obscure the evidence.
If a storm went through your neighborhood and your neighbors are having roofs looked at, have yours looked at.
What happens during a professional storm inspection?
Our inspection is free and there is no obligation attached to it. A crew member gets on the roof safely, photographs every slope, and marks the damage in a way an adjuster recognizes — test squares, chalked impacts, counts per square. You get the written report and the photos whether or not you file, and whether or not you hire us.
If you do file, we can be there when the adjuster comes out. That meeting is where most of the disagreement over scope gets resolved, and having someone there who documented the roof first tends to shorten it considerably. More on that process on our insurance claim help page.
Storm season does not wait for business hours. We answer at 1-800-564-6232 24 hours a day, and you can request a free inspection any time. See also our storm and hail damage service page.
Frequently asked questions
How can I tell if my roof has hail damage without getting on it?
Check the soft metals first from the ground: gutters, downspouts, vents and flashing dent before shingles show bruising. Also check the AC condenser fins, mailbox and car hoods. If those are dented, the roof took the same impact.
Does hail damage always cause a leak right away?
No, and this is why so many claims are missed. Hail bruises the shingle mat and knocks granules off, which shortens the shingle's life. The actual leak often appears two or three years later, after the claim window has closed.
What is the difference between hail damage and wind damage?
Hail damage appears as randomly scattered bruises and granule loss across the shingle surface. Wind damage shows up at the edges as creased, lifted or missing shingles, usually along ridges, rakes and the windward slope.
How long do I have to file a storm damage claim in Missouri or Illinois?
Policies carry reporting deadlines that vary by insurer. Filing promptly matters because insurers can attribute delayed damage to a different, uncovered event, and weathering obscures the evidence over time.
Should I get a roof inspection before or after I file the claim?
Before, if you can. A documented written inspection with photographs establishes the damage and the date of loss, which makes the claim significantly harder to dispute.