Recorded events
The wind record for Garden Grove
The honest headline for Garden Grove is that the hail record is empty for five years. What the record does contain is wind, and enough of it to matter to a roof already past its best.
What is going on with the roof?
Up to three local contractors, and never more.
Your request is in.
We are matching it now against roofing contractors working in Garden Grove 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
Across 61 months of NEXRAD records, no hail-bearing storm cell has been detected within ten miles of Garden Grove. That is normal for this part of California and it is the reason roof claims here are almost always wind, water or age rather than impact.
Gusts, and when they happen
Over 5 years of daily records at this location, the highest modelled gust was about 49 mph, below the 58 mph severe threshold but well into the range that finds anything already lifted or loose. There were 11 days above 39 mph and 4 above 45 mph in that period, concentrated in February, March, and April.
| Date | Peak gust |
|---|---|
| 18 February 2026 | 44 mph |
| 6 November 2024 | 49 mph |
| 3 April 2023 | 40 mph |
| 1 March 2023 | 40 mph |
| 25 February 2023 | 47 mph |
| 12 April 2022 | 40 mph |
| 14 December 2021 | 48 mph |
| 11 October 2021 | 45 mph |
What to look at after a storm
What landed on it
A branch across the roof does damage twice: once on impact and once by sitting there holding water against the covering. Get it off, photograph where it was, and look at what is underneath before deciding it was nothing.
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.
Inside, before outside
The underside of the deck is the most honest surface on the whole house. It shows water that has not yet reached a ceiling, and it tells you roughly how long the water has been arriving.
Granules where they should not be
Look in the splash blocks and at the base of the downspouts. Granule loss concentrated in one area, rather than spread evenly, is the pattern that points at impact rather than at age.
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 claim window
Every policy sets a period within which a loss has to be reported, measured from the event rather than from the discovery. That is the practical reason a dated record of local storms is useful to a homeowner at all.
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 Garden Grove. 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
How long do I have to report storm damage?
Less time than most people assume, and the clock runs from the date of the event rather than from the day you noticed. Policies require prompt notice and set an outer limit on reporting. That is the single most common reason late-discovered damage is denied, and it is why knowing the date of the storm matters.
Where do the storm dates on this site come from?
Hail comes from NOAA’s Severe Weather Data Inventory — radar detections of hail-bearing storm cells within ten miles of Garden Grove, with an estimated stone size. Wind comes from the ERA5 reanalysis archive as a daily maximum gust at this city’s coordinates. Both are useful for dates and scale. Neither is an observation of your roof, and we do not present them as one.
There was a storm near me. Do I have damage?
There is no way to know from the weather record, and this site does not claim otherwise. Two houses on one street come out of the same night in completely different condition. What a nearby storm gives you is a date and a reason to look — starting with the gutters and vent caps, which dent before shingles mark.