Did that last storm hurt your roof, or just make a lot of noise? Hail damage on asphalt shingles is easy to miss from the yard, because a damaged shingle usually still looks like a shingle. The giveaway is a pattern of small dark spots where granules were knocked off, soft bruises you can feel with a fingertip, and dents in the metal around the roof. This guide covers what each sign looks like, what gets mistaken for hail, and what a Brookhaven homeowner can safely check without climbing a ladder.
What does hail damage on asphalt shingles look like?
Hail damage on an asphalt shingle is usually a round or irregular dark spot where the granules have been knocked away, often with a soft, bruised feel in the middle. The Nebraska Department of Insurance’s hail guidance explains that hailstones can leave a bruise in the shingle’s mat that fingers can usually detect in and around the crater, and that true hail damage leaves a random pattern of strike marks in various sizes.
That randomness matters. Hail does not fall in neat rows, so marks that line up, repeat at the same spot on every shingle, or follow a walking path usually have another cause. Real hits are scattered across a slope, with more on the side of the roof that faced the storm.
Fresh hits tend to look darker and sharper than old wear because the asphalt underneath is newly exposed. Over a few months of sun, the exposed spots fade and can be harder to tell apart from ordinary weathering, which is one reason to get a roof looked at soon after a storm.
How big does hail have to be to damage shingles?
Hail about an inch across is the size where shingle damage becomes a real possibility. The National Weather Service uses one inch as its severe hail threshold: its Birmingham office’s severe weather page defines a severe thunderstorm as one producing hail one inch in diameter or larger, or winds of 58 miles per hour or more. Nebraska’s guidance puts the point of damage for lightweight composite shingles at about one-inch, quarter-sized hail, and for heavier composite shingles at about one and a quarter inches.
Size is not the whole story. Older, brittle shingles bruise more easily than new ones, wind-driven hail hits harder and at an angle, and dense hailstones do more than slushy ones. Brookhaven sits in the forecast area of the National Weather Service office in Atlanta and Peachtree City, and its storm reports and warnings are a good record of what size hail was reported near your neighborhood on a given day.
What else gets mistaken for hail damage?
Several common roof problems look a lot like hail hits, and sorting them out is half of any honest storm inspection.
| Mark on the shingle | What it usually is | How to tell |
|---|---|---|
| Scattered dark spots, soft to the touch | Hail bruise | Random pattern, often matching dents in nearby metal |
| Small craters with sharp, raised edges | Blistering | Gas pockets that popped from inside; no matching metal dents |
| Worn spots along a straight line | Foot traffic or scuffing | Follows a path from a ladder point or toward a vent |
| Even granule loss over a whole slope | Normal aging | Uniform wear, worst on sun-facing slopes |
| Crescent-shaped cuts or tears | Nail or tool damage | Usually near repairs or where something was installed |
Nebraska’s guidance makes another useful point: granules collecting at the bottom of a downspout may suggest damage, but granule loss alone does not prove it. A roof that is shedding granules evenly with age will do that after every heavy rain, hail or no hail.
Where should you look first after a hailstorm?
The soft metal around the house is the easiest place to start, because metal shows hail far more plainly than shingles do. From the ground or a window, look at gutters, downspouts, roof vents, the caps on exhaust pipes and any metal flashing for small round dents. A dented gutter does not prove the shingles were hit, but it tells you hail of meaningful size landed on that side of the house.
Next, look at things at eye level. Nebraska’s guidance notes that hail strong enough to damage a roof can also damage nearby cars, wood fences, shutters and exterior trim, so fresh marks there are a useful clue. Check window screens and the paint on the windward side, too. Patio furniture, grills and mailboxes take hits as well.
Then look at the yard. Shredded leaves on the ground, granules piled at downspout outlets and chipped paint on the deck railings all point toward a hailstorm with some force behind it. In a neighborhood like Ashford Park or near Murphey Candler Park, where tall hardwoods cover many lots, also check for fallen limbs, since branch impacts leave their own damage that can sit right next to hail marks.
Should you get on the roof to check?
No. Walking a wet or storm-damaged roof is how people get hurt, and foot traffic on brittle or bruised shingles can create new damage that muddies the picture. A pair of binoculars from the yard or a look from an upstairs window will show you missing shingles, lifted edges and the general condition of the roof without any risk.
What a homeowner cannot do from the ground is feel for bruises, check the underside of a damaged shingle, or count hits in a test square on each slope. That is the work of a careful roof inspection, where every slope is walked, marks are chalked and photographed, and the soft metals are checked so the findings are documented in one place.
Does hail damage get worse if you leave it alone?
Often it does, slowly. A hail bruise is a weak spot in the shingle, not a hole, so the roof may not leak right away. The trouble builds over the next seasons. With the granules gone, sunlight reaches the asphalt directly and dries it out faster than the rest of the shingle. A mat that was cracked by the impact can split further as the roof heats and cools, and water that gets into the crack works its way toward the nail line and the underlayment.
That is why hail damage tends to show up as a leak long after the storm itself, sometimes after the homeowner has forgotten which storm it was. In Brookhaven, where hot summers and frequent heavy rain follow one another, a bruised roof gets plenty of chances to fail. Writing down the storm date and taking your own ground-level photos of dented metal the week it happens gives you a record that does not depend on memory later.
What happens if you find hail damage?
Hail damage that has bruised or fractured shingles is worth having documented before anything is repaired. Photos of every slope, close-ups of the hits and pictures of dented metal give you a clear record of what the storm did. If you plan to contact your insurer, confirm with your insurance company or agent what your own policy covers and any time limits for reporting damage, since policies differ.
Our insurance claim assistance work starts from that documentation: we photograph the damage, meet the adjuster on the roof, and submit supplements for items that were missed. When shingles are only lightly damaged on one slope, a storm damage repair may be all the roof needs. Widespread bruising across several slopes often points toward a bigger fix.
The Order to Check Things in After the Next Storm
Work from the easy clues to the hard ones. Start with dented gutters, vents and fences, because they tell you whether hail big enough to matter fell on your house at all. Then note the storm date and look up the hail reports near Brookhaven so you have a record. Only after that is it worth getting a close look at the shingles, and that part belongs to someone working from a ladder and a harness, not you. If the metal is clean and the yard shows no signs, the shingles are probably fine. If the metal is dented, the roof deserves a closer look before marks fade.
When you want that closer look, Brookhaven Roofing can walk through our storm damage repair process with you, and there is more about how we work on the home page.