Buchanan Dam Forensic Weather & Hail Impact Report

Look, I’ve been roofing this stretch of the Hill Country for over twenty years, and I can tell you Buchanan Dam gets hit harder than folks realize. We sit right in that corridor where the warm, moist air from the Gulf slams into the cooler air rolling off the Llano uplift, and that collision is a recipe for supercell storms. Those storms don’t just pass through—they stall and spin, dropping hail the size of golf balls or bigger, especially from March through June. And because we’re surrounded by granite outcroppings and the lake itself, the wind gets funneled and twisted in ways you don’t see in flat country. I’ve pulled shingles off roofs that were only two years old, and the damage isn’t always obvious from the ground—it’s those hidden dings and lifted tabs that let water sneak in months later.

The other thing people forget is that our “second season” in October and November can be just as brutal. Those fall fronts come barreling down from the north, and they hit the warm water of the lake, which supercharges the gusts. I’ve seen straight-line winds here top 70 miles an hour, and that’s enough to peel back a whole ridge line if it’s not nailed down right. Plus, the hail we get isn’t always round—it’s often jagged and icy, which chews up asphalt like a belt sander. So when you’re sitting on the porch watching that green sky, just know your roof is taking a beating from two directions at once: the impact from above and the uplift from below. That’s why I always tell my neighbors here to check their attic after every big blow, because the damage is real, and it’s not a matter of if—it’s a matter of when.