Every Southern Californian knows the Santa Ana winds, the hot, dry gusts that sweep down through the passes and canyons, rattle the windows, and set everyone on edge. They are famous for fire weather, but they also do real damage to roofs, and the tricky part is that the damage often does not announce itself. A roof can take a beating in a windstorm, look fine from the ground, and then leak the first time it rains weeks later. Understanding what the winds do helps you catch it.
Santa Ana gusts get under the edges of tiles and shingles and lift them, cracking some and shifting others out of place. They work at flashing until it loosens, tear at already-brittle shingles, and drive debris across the roof. In the canyon and hillside neighborhoods where the winds are strongest, they also bring down tree branches onto roofs, cracking tiles and gouging shingles where they land. None of this necessarily leaks right away, which is exactly why it gets missed.
Here is the catch that catches so many homeowners. A tile that the wind cracked or shifted, or a shingle it lifted, may not leak in dry weather, and the Santa Anas are dry by nature. So the roof looks normal after the windstorm. Then the winter rains arrive, find the opening the wind created, and the leak shows up inside, seemingly out of nowhere. The wind did the damage; the rain just revealed it. Our page on signs of storm damage covers what to look for.
| Where | What to look for |
|---|---|
| The yard and gutters | Tile pieces, shingle granules, debris |
| The roofline from the ground | Slipped, cracked, or missing pieces |
| The edges and penetrations | Lifted or loosened flashing |
| The attic | Daylight or damp spots |
Check from the ground and the attic, not by climbing up, since a wind-hit roof can have loose footing. If you find damage, our storm damage repair handles it, and our storm and wind damage page covers the fixes.
Some of the damage is preventable. Trimming branches back from the roof before wind season removes both the impact risk and, in fire weather, an ember hazard. Keeping tiles and flashing in good repair means the wind has less to grab. This is the everyday value of roof maintenance, and it pairs with getting ahead of the winter rains, covered on our page on preventing leaks before the rainy season.
If a strong Santa Ana event has passed and you want peace about your roof before the rains, a roof inspection checks for the wind damage you cannot see from the ground and puts it in writing, which also helps if any of it becomes an insurance claim. Catching wind damage in the dry weeks after the storm, rather than during a January leak, is the whole idea, and our page on delaying a repair shows why.
Catch it before the rains reveal it. Call (310) 806-5959 or request an inspection below.
Tell us what you noticed after the winds and we will check the roof and give you a written price, with no obligation.