Recorded events
Hail and wind recorded near Villa Park
This page is the recorded storm history for Villa Park, not a general article about hail. Radar detections on one day in the last five years, on 19 March 2024.
What is going on with the roof?
No cost to you. Contractors pay us, you do not.
Your request is in.
We are matching it now against roofing contractors working in Villa Park and the surrounding area.
- Today, usually within the hour. The first contractor calls or texts the number you gave us. ASAP requests go out first.
- Up to three of them, no more. We cap it at three so you can compare without your phone melting.
- They come and look. Estimates are given after somebody has been on the roof, not over the phone.
- You decide, or you do not. There is nothing to cancel and nothing to pay us.
If you do not hear anything today, check your voicemail and spam folder — contractors often call from a mobile number.
Hail
The most recent detection was on 19 March 2024, about 2 years ago. Radar sized the largest stone in that cell at about 0.5 inches, small, and unlikely on its own to have marked a sound roof. The nearest cell was about 8.5 miles away, which is close enough to be worth checking and far enough that it may have missed the house entirely.
| Date | Largest stone sized by radar | Nearest cell | Cells that day |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19 March 2024 | 0.5 in | 8.5 mi | 1 |
The wind record
Over 5 years of daily records at this location, the highest modelled gust was about 55 mph, below the 58 mph severe threshold but well into the range that finds anything already lifted or loose. There were 21 days above 39 mph and 7 above 45 mph in that period, concentrated in January, February, and November.
| Date | Peak gust |
|---|---|
| 6 November 2024 | 55 mph |
| 14 March 2024 | 45 mph |
| 20 November 2023 | 46 mph |
| 21 March 2023 | 45 mph |
| 25 February 2023 | 46 mph |
| 8 November 2022 | 46 mph |
| 14 December 2021 | 51 mph |
| 24 November 2021 | 44 mph |
What to look at after a storm
What landed on it
Wind-blown debris is the cause of a surprising share of storm claims, and it is the one kind of damage that is genuinely obvious once somebody looks.
The ridge and the edges
Wind does not lift a roof from the middle. It gets under an edge — the rake, the eave, the ridge cap — and peels inward from there. Those are the places to look at from the ground with binoculars after a wind event, and they are the places a marginal roof gives up first.
The soft metal, first
Gutters, downspouts, vent caps, and any aluminium fascia are softer than the roof covering and dent before it marks. If there are no dents in the soft metal, there is very probably no impact damage on the shingles either. This is the check an adjuster makes before getting on the roof, and you can make it from the ground.
Flashing, chimneys and skylights
Penetrations are where a roof is joined rather than laid, and joins fail first. After a wind event they are the first thing worth having looked at properly.
What the street is doing
If several roofs on the street are being worked on and yours is the same age and the same covering, that is a reason to have yours looked at. It is not a reason to assume you have damage, and a contractor who tells you the whole street is getting a new roof paid for by insurance is telling you something about themselves.
The claim window
Policies require prompt notice of a loss and set an outer limit on how long after the event damage can be reported. That limit runs from the date of the storm, not from the day the damage was noticed — which is why the dates above are worth writing down somewhere you will find them again.
None of which means filing on every storm. It means knowing the date, having the damage looked at, and then deciding — in that order.
How a roof insurance claim actually works, step by step
Where these numbers come from
Hail detections come from NOAA NCEI’s Severe Weather Data Inventory (NEXRAD product nx3hail) within 10 miles of Villa Park. Radar sizes hail in a storm cell; it does not observe what landed on any particular roof. Gust figures are daily maxima from the ERA5 reanalysis archive at this city’s coordinates, which is a model of the weather rather than a reading from an instrument in the neighbourhood. Both are useful for dates and for scale, and neither is evidence about your roof. Last refreshed 2026-08-31.
Questions after a storm
Where do the storm dates on this site come from?
They are public federal and reanalysis data for this city’s coordinates rather than anything we measured. Radar sizes hail in a cloud; a reanalysis models wind. They tell you when something happened near here, which is exactly the thing an insurer asks for first and the thing that is hard to reconstruct later.
There was a storm near me. Do I have damage?
A recorded storm nearby is a reason to have the roof looked at, not evidence that anything happened to it. The useful first check costs nothing: dents in the soft metal around the roof, and a look in the attic on a bright day.
How long do I have to report storm damage?
Your policy sets the limit and it is measured from the loss, not from the discovery. Reporting is not the same as committing to a claim, so if there is any doubt it is usually better to report and then decide.