Robert Lee Forensic Weather & Hail Impact Report

Look, I’ve been replacing roofs in this county for over twenty years, and I can tell you Robert Lee gets hit harder than folks realize. We sit right in that corridor where the dry line from the west slams into the Gulf moisture coming up from the south, and that’s a recipe for supercell storms. When those things fire up over the Edwards Plateau, they don’t just give us a sprinkle—they roll through with straight-line winds that’ll peel shingles like a can of tuna, and hail that can range from pea-sized to baseballs in a matter of minutes. The geography doesn’t help either; we’re surrounded by those rolling hills and the lake basin, which acts like a funnel for the wind. I’ve seen storms that looked small on radar suddenly double in intensity right as they cross the water, and that’s when the real damage happens.

The worst part is the season doesn’t give you a break. We get our big hail events in the spring, sure—April and May are brutal—but I’ve patched roofs in late September and even November when a cold front comes barreling through and kicks up a nasty squall line. And because we’re so far from the coast, people think we’re safe, but that’s backwards. The hail here is often denser and more wind-driven than what they see in Dallas or Houston, because the updrafts are stronger and the stones get tossed around longer before they fall. You add in the fact that a lot of homes in town have older, three-tab shingles that are already brittle from our scorching summers, and you’ve got a perfect storm. I’m not trying to scare you, but if you’ve got a roof that’s over ten years old, you’re basically playing roulette every time the sky turns green.