Recorded events
The wind record for Costa Mesa
Costa Mesa does not get hail in any quantity — five years of radar detections found none within ten miles. It does get wind, on a handful of days a year, and those are the days roofs are lost here.
What is going on with the roof?
About a minute. Nothing is charged and nothing is booked.
Your request is in.
We are matching it now against roofing contractors working in Costa Mesa 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 Costa Mesa. 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.
Wind
Over 5 years of daily records at this location, the highest modelled gust was about 53 mph, below the 58 mph severe threshold but well into the range that finds anything already lifted or loose. There were 35 days above 39 mph and 15 above 45 mph in that period, concentrated in January, February, and March.
| Date | Peak gust |
|---|---|
| 18 February 2026 | 53 mph |
| 13 March 2025 | 47 mph |
| 20 January 2025 | 47 mph |
| 7 January 2025 | 47 mph |
| 6 November 2024 | 51 mph |
| 29 October 2023 | 47 mph |
| 22 February 2023 | 52 mph |
| 11 October 2021 | 49 mph |
What to look at after a storm
The ridge and the edges
Ridge caps sitting proud, a line of shingles along the rake that no longer lies flat, a lifted starter course at the eave: these are wind signatures, and each one is an opening for the next storm rather than a cosmetic complaint.
Granules where they should not be
A cupful of granules at the bottom of a downspout after a storm is not proof of impact — roofs shed granules as they age — but a sudden change is worth photographing with the date on it. What matters is the difference from last month, which is why photographing a sound roof now is not a wasted hour.
What the street is doing
Neighbourhoods built at once wear out at once, so a run of work on one street is often a cohort reaching its age rather than a storm. Both are worth knowing about; they are not the same thing.
Flashing, chimneys and skylights
Most storm leaks are not through the field of the roof. They are at a junction — a chimney, a skylight, a wall abutment, a valley — where something is meant to be sealed and is not any more. Wind opens those seams before it opens anything else.
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.
How the deadline works
The reporting deadline in a policy runs from the date of the loss. Damage found late is denied on that basis more often than on any argument about the damage itself, and the dates above exist precisely so that a date is available when one is needed.
None of which means filing on every storm. It means knowing the date, having the damage looked at, and then deciding — in that order.
The full guide to how a roof claim works
Where these numbers come from
Hail detections come from NOAA NCEI’s Severe Weather Data Inventory (NEXRAD product nx3hail) within 10 miles of Costa Mesa. 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
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?
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 Costa Mesa, 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.