Recorded events
The wind record for La Palma
The honest headline for La Palma is that the hail record is empty for five years. What the record does contain is wind, and enough of it to matter to a roof already past its best.
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The hail record
Across 61 months of NEXRAD records, no hail-bearing storm cell has been detected within ten miles of La Palma. That is normal for this part of California and it is the reason roof claims here are almost always wind, water or age rather than impact.
Wind
Over 5 years of daily records at this location, the highest modelled gust was about 45 mph, below the 58 mph severe threshold but well into the range that finds anything already lifted or loose. There were 7 days above 39 mph and 1 above 45 mph in that period, concentrated in February, April, and October.
| Date | Peak gust |
|---|---|
| 18 February 2026 | 39 mph |
| 25 February 2023 | 45 mph |
| 12 April 2022 | 39 mph |
| 14 December 2021 | 44 mph |
| 11 October 2021 | 42 mph |
What to check afterwards
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.
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.
The soft metal, first
Gutters, downspouts, vent caps, and any aluminium fascia are softer than the roof covering and dent before it marks. If there are no dents in the soft metal, there is very probably no impact damage on the shingles either. This is the check an inspector makes before getting on the roof, and you can make it from the ground.
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 the street is doing
If several roofs on the street are being worked on and yours is the same age and the same covering, that is a reason to have yours looked at. It is not a reason to assume you have damage, and a contractor who tells you the whole street is getting a new roof paid for by insurance is telling you something about themselves.
Sources, and what they can and cannot tell you
Hail detections come from NOAA NCEI’s Severe Weather Data Inventory (NEXRAD product nx3hail) within 10 miles of La Palma. 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.
What is it going to cost?
Free, no obligation, and your details go to no company until you say yes.