Hail:



Pellets of frozen rain which fall in showers from cumulonimbus clouds that form inside thunderstorm updrafts. Hail can damage aircraft, homes and cars, and can be deadly to livestock and people.  Hail is a form of precipitation that occurs when updrafts in thunderstorms carry raindrops upward into extremely cold areas of the atmosphere where they freeze into ice.  These chunks of ice are called hailstones. Most hailstones measure between 5 millimetres and 15 centimetres in diameter, and can be round or jagged.

What a hail storm does to your roof:



Hail can cause all sorts of issues with your roof, everything from a few loose shingle granules to leaks and deterioration. Usually homeowner’s insurance will cover the repairs that come with shingle damage caused by hail, but not the ones you don’t identify in a timely manner. That’s the biggest problem with hail damage: often it isn't noticed until it’s too late. Most storms won’t completely destroy your roof, but they can compromise the structural integrity of your shingles and underlayment, leaving you vulnerable over time to leaks, rot, slipped shingles, and other deterioration.

Before you get out the ladder and climb your roof yourself, there are ways you can identify hail from the ground.  Some of the signs of hail damage you can see from the ground are:

• Soft Metals - You can usually identify hail by checking the soft metals around your property.  Such as:  gutters, downspouts, garage doors or even your mail box.

• Granule loss - After a hail storm you will begin to see granules collecting in your gutters and downspouts.
  

• Screens - Check all of your screen panels for hail streaks or impacts caused by the stones.