Burnet Forensic Weather & Hail Impact Report

Look, I’ve been replacing roofs up here for over twenty years, and if there’s one thing I tell every homeowner in Burnet, it’s that we’re sitting right in the bullseye of Texas weather. We’re not tucked away in some valley that deflects the wind—we’re on the western edge of the Hill Country, with wide-open ranchland to the west and south. That means when a spring front rolls in off the Edwards Plateau, there’s nothing to slow it down. Those storms build up in the afternoon heat, and by the time they hit us, they’re packing straight-line winds that can peel shingles like a can opener. And it’s not just the wind—it’s the hail. We get those tight, marble-to-golf-ball sized stones that come down at an angle, hammering the south-facing slopes of your roof first. I’ve seen brand new architectural shingles look like someone took a shotgun to them after one May storm.

The real kicker is our storm season doesn’t give you a break. We get a nasty stretch in April and May when the jet stream dips down and pulls those supercells right over Lake Buchanan and Inks Lake, and then again in September and October when the humidity spikes back up. That’s when we see the hail wrap itself in the wind, so it’s not just falling—it’s being driven sideways into your ridge caps and valleys. Plus, the temperature swings here are brutal. We’ll hit 95 degrees in the afternoon, then a cold front drops it 30 degrees in two hours, and that constant expansion and contraction makes your shingles brittle. By the time a storm hits, they’re already stressed, so a little hail is all it takes to crack the granules and expose the mat. Honestly, if you live on the west side of town near the fairgrounds or out toward 29, you’re even more exposed because you’re on the higher ground where the wind gusts first. It’s not a matter of *if* you’ll get hit—it’s a matter of how many times before you call me.