North Texas doesn’t get a quiet weather season. Between spring hailstorms and the high winds that come with summer thunderstorms, your roof spends a lot of the year taking hits you may never even notice from the ground. The homeowners who avoid the big, expensive surprises are usually the ones who get ahead of storm season instead of reacting after it.

Here’s what we recommend checking — or having checked — before the next round of severe weather rolls through DFW.

1. Start With What You Can See From the Ground

You don’t need to get on a ladder to catch early warning signs. Walk the perimeter of your house and look for shingles that appear curled, cracked, or missing altogether. Check your gutters for a buildup of granules, which is a sign that shingles are breaking down faster than they should. And take a look at any exposed metal flashing around chimneys or vents — rust or visible gaps are worth flagging.

2. Check the Attic, Not Just the Roofline

Some of the most useful information about your roof’s condition is visible from inside the attic, not from outside. On a dry day, look for:

• Water stains or discoloration on the underside of the roof deck
• Daylight coming through anywhere it shouldn’t
• Soft or sagging spots in the decking
• Musty smells, which can point to trapped moisture

Any of these are worth a professional look before storm season, since a small existing issue can turn into a much bigger one the moment a storm adds hail impact or wind-driven rain into the mix.

3. Have Loose or Aging Materials Secured

High winds don’t create weak points in a roof — they find the ones that already exist. Shingles that are already lifting at the edges, ridge caps that have started to loosen, or flashing that isn’t sealed as tightly as it should be are the first things to fail in a wind event. Getting these secured ahead of time is a small job that prevents a much larger one.

“The roofs that come through a hailstorm the worst are almost always the ones that already had a problem no one had looked at.”— Roofing Redefined, on what we see after storm season

4. Know What To Do Immediately After a Storm

1. Do a visual check from the ground for missing shingles, dented vents, or debris on the roof.
2. Check your attic for any new signs of light, moisture, or staining.
3. Photograph anything that looks off, including granules collecting in gutters or downspouts.
4. Have the roof professionally inspected before filing an insurance claim, even if damage isn’t obvious yet — hail bruising in particular can be hard to spot without training.