# What's in a storm report

> A RoofQuery storm report covers five years of hail, wind and tornado activity at and around an address in the US or Canada. It lists every hail and wind date with the largest hail or strongest wind at the property and within 1, 3 and 5 miles, a confidence rating and the evidence for each day, a chance-of-roof-damage rating, and the parcel boundary and owner of record. It costs $3, is free when nothing was recorded nearby, and includes five branded PDFs. Storm reports are in open beta.

Category: How it works. Last updated 2026-10-17.
Canonical: https://roofquery.com/guides/whats-in-a-storm-report

A storm report is the weather history of one address: every day in the last five years when hail, damaging wind, a tornado or flooding was recorded within 5 miles, with the evidence for each. It comes back as JSON in the response that orders it, and as five PDFs you can brand and send.

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## What does a storm report cover?

Five years at and around the property, out to 5 miles. Radar hail estimates start in October 2020, so the period never reaches further back than the radar data does. The sources are joined per storm day: radar hail from NOAA, storm reports from the National Weather Service and hail-pad observers, NWS warnings and damage surveys, NOAA Storm Events records, FEMA declarations and the peak gusts at nearby airport stations. Canada has radar hail and stations but no public archive of storm reports or warnings, and its reports say so.

## What is in the hail section?

One row per storm date with the largest hail at the property and within 1, 3 and 5 miles, the largest ground report and how far away it was, and the radar swath band the property sat in. A date is listed when 0.75-inch hail reached the property or within 1 mile, or 1-inch hail fell within 3 miles, plus your date of loss. That is the same rule the industry's hail verification reports use, so the table reads the way adjusters expect. Sizes come with their everyday names, penny to softball; the [hail size chart](https://roofquery.com/guides/hail-size-chart-and-roof-damage) lists them.

## What is in the wind section?

The strongest wind with a known location within 1, 3 and 5 miles for each date, where it came from (a measured gust, a storm report, an NWS damage survey or a NOAA record), wind damage reports nearby, the peak gust at airports within 10 miles, the warnings that covered the property, and the closest tornado. Dates are listed from 58 mph, the National Weather Service's severe threshold. The [wind speed guide](https://roofquery.com/guides/wind-speed-and-roof-damage) explains the numbers.

## What do confidence and damage chance mean?

They answer two different questions. **Confidence** is how sure the data is that the storm reached the property: high when independent sources agree at or very near it, medium for one strong source, low for distant or indirect evidence only. **Damage chance** is how likely a storm of that size is to have damaged a roof: high for 1.5-inch hail or 75 mph wind within a mile, medium for 1-inch hail nearby or severe wind, low otherwise. It is based on weather data only; an inspection confirms damage.

| Field | Answers |
| --- | --- |
| `confidence` | Did this storm reach the property? |
| `damageChance` | Was it big enough to commonly damage roofing? |
| `evidence` | Which sources say so, in plain English |

## What else is in the JSON?

- **The date-of-loss analysis** for any date you pass: what was recorded at the property and within 1, 3 and 5 miles, and the nearest storm days before and after. See [verifying the date of loss](https://roofquery.com/guides/verifying-date-of-loss-on-a-roof-claim).
- **The parcel**: parcel number, boundary, area and the owner of record from county data, with the owner's name parsed into people's names.
- **The map**: the radar hail swath around the property, as GeoJSON and as an image.
- **Every storm day**, with its hazards and evidence, including the ones too small for the tables.

The field reference is under [storm report data](https://roofquery.com/docs/storm-report-data).

## Which PDFs come with it?

Five, each branded with your logo and colours or a customer's brand profile: Hail Verification and Wind Verification (one page each, for adjusters), Date of Loss, the full Weather History, and a plain-English Homeowner Storm Summary. [Which PDF to send](https://roofquery.com/guides/which-storm-report-pdf-to-send) compares them.

## What does it cost, and when is it free?

$3 from your prepaid balance. If no storm of any kind was recorded within 5 miles in the five years, the report is still delivered and nothing is charged. The weather data is fixed when you order; the date of loss, claim number, insured name and notes can change every time you read or download it, at no extra cost.

## Frequently asked questions

### How far back does a storm report go?

Five years. Radar hail estimates begin in October 2020, so no report reaches further back than that.

### Does a storm report prove a roof was damaged?

No. It describes the weather at and around the property. The damage chance rating says how likely a storm of that size is to damage roofing; only an inspection confirms damage.

### What happens if nothing was recorded near the address?

You still get the report, with empty tables and a low damage chance, and you are not charged.