Recorded events
Hail and wind recorded near Laguna Hills
Radar has picked up hail-bearing storm cells within ten miles of Laguna Hills on two days: 18 March 2024 and 5 October 2021. Here is what was recorded, and what is worth checking as a result.
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What the radar recorded
The most recent detection was on 18 March 2024, about 3 years ago. Radar sized the largest stone in that cell at about 0.5 inches, small, and unlikely on its own to have marked a sound roof. The nearest cell was about 5.7 miles away, which is close enough to be worth checking and far enough that it may have missed the house entirely.
| Date | Largest stone sized by radar | Nearest cell | Cells that day |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18 March 2024 | 0.5 in | 5.7 mi | 4 |
| 5 October 2021 | 1.0 in | 1.8 mi | 4 |
The wind record
Over 5 years of daily records at this location, the highest modelled gust was about 56 mph, below the 58 mph severe threshold but well into the range that finds anything already lifted or loose. There were 18 days above 39 mph and 3 above 45 mph in that period, concentrated in January, February, and March.
| Date | Peak gust |
|---|---|
| 16 February 2026 | 44 mph |
| 8 January 2025 | 46 mph |
| 14 March 2024 | 56 mph |
| 21 March 2023 | 43 mph |
| 25 February 2023 | 50 mph |
| 23 January 2023 | 43 mph |
| 2 February 2022 | 43 mph |
| 14 December 2021 | 44 mph |
What to look at after a storm
Flashing, chimneys and skylights
Most storm leaks are not through the field of the roof. They are at a junction — a chimney, a skylight, a wall abutment, a valley — where something is meant to be sealed and is not any more. Wind opens those seams before it opens anything else.
What landed on it
A branch across the roof does damage twice: once on impact and once by sitting there holding water against the covering. Get it off, photograph where it was, and look at what is underneath before deciding it was nothing.
The soft metal, first
Start with the parts that bruise easily: gutter faces, downspouts, vent hoods, the aluminium trim. They are the network of soft targets around the roof, and they record a hail event more legibly than the shingles do. Clean metal is meaningful evidence.
Granules where they should not be
A cupful of granules at the bottom of a downspout after a storm is not proof of impact — roofs shed granules as they age — but a sudden change is worth photographing with the date on it. What matters is the difference from last month, which is why photographing a sound roof now is not a wasted hour.
Inside, before outside
Go into the attic on a bright day with the lights off. Daylight through the deck, fresh staining on the sheathing, or a rust track down a nail shank all say water got in. The attic shows it long before a ceiling does, and dated photographs of it are worth a great deal later.
About this data
Hail detections come from NOAA NCEI’s Severe Weather Data Inventory (NEXRAD product nx3hail) within 10 miles of Laguna Hills. Radar sizes hail in a storm cell; it does not observe what landed on any particular roof. Gust figures are daily maxima from the ERA5 reanalysis archive at this city’s coordinates, which is a model of the weather rather than a reading from an instrument in the neighbourhood. Both are useful for dates and for scale, and neither is evidence about your roof. Last refreshed 2026-08-31.
Storm damage questions
There was a storm near me. Do I have damage?
A recorded storm nearby is a reason to have the roof looked at, not evidence that anything happened to it. The useful first check costs nothing: dents in the soft metal around the roof, and a look in the attic on a bright day.
Get the roof looked at
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