Strawn Forensic Weather & Hail Impact Report

Look, I’ve been roofing in this part of Texas for over twenty years, and if there’s one thing I tell every homeowner in Strawn, it’s that you’re sitting right in the bullseye for some of the nastiest weather in the state. It’s not just the size of the hail—though we do get those golf-ball and even baseball-sized stones rolling through here—it’s the way the wind comes with it. We’re situated right on that open stretch of ranch land between Possum Kingdom Lake and the Brazos River valley, and there’s nothing to break up the wind. When a supercell forms out west and starts rolling east, it picks up speed across that flat country, and by the time it hits Strawn, you’re looking at straight-line winds that can peel shingles right off a roof like they’re nothing. I’ve seen roofs that looked fine from the street, but up close, the wind had lifted every tab and loosened the sealant, so the next rainstorm just poured right through the decking.

And here’s the thing about our storm season—it’s not just one month you have to worry about. We get the big spring hailers in April and May, sure, but we also get those violent pop-up thunderstorms in late summer and even into October that come out of nowhere. The hail in this area is notorious for being dense, not just big, because it forms in those high, cold clouds that stack up over the hill country. That means it hits with a lot of force, and it’s coming down at an angle because of the wind, so it’s hammering your roof’s slopes and valleys from the side instead of straight down. That’s what really tears up the shingles—it gets under the edges and breaks the granules loose, and once those granules are gone, the sun and rain do the rest. I’ve replaced more roofs in this town after a single twenty-minute storm than most contractors do in a whole year in Dallas. You might not see the damage from the ground, but trust me, your roof is taking a beating every time that sky turns green.