Recorded events
The wind record for Fountain Valley
Fountain Valley 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.
Tell us about the roof
Up to three local contractors, and never more.
Your request is in.
We are matching it now against roofing contractors working in Fountain Valley 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.
What the radar recorded
Across 61 months of NEXRAD records, no hail-bearing storm cell has been detected within ten miles of Fountain Valley. 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.
The wind record
Over 5 years of daily records at this location, the highest modelled gust was about 56 mph, below the 58 mph severe threshold but well into the range that finds anything already lifted or loose. There were 22 days above 39 mph and 7 above 45 mph in that period, concentrated in January, February, and March.
| Date | Peak gust |
|---|---|
| 18 February 2026 | 48 mph |
| 6 November 2024 | 56 mph |
| 1 March 2023 | 44 mph |
| 25 February 2023 | 51 mph |
| 12 April 2022 | 42 mph |
| 5 March 2022 | 42 mph |
| 14 December 2021 | 49 mph |
| 11 October 2021 | 51 mph |
The checks worth making
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.
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.
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.
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.
The claim window
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
About this data
Hail detections come from NOAA NCEI’s Severe Weather Data Inventory (NEXRAD product nx3hail) within 10 miles of Fountain Valley. 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?
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.
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 Fountain Valley, 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?
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.