How can you tell if individual shingles are damaged by hail?
Short answer. A hail hit on an asphalt shingle usually shows as a roughly round spot where granules are knocked away, often with dark exposed asphalt and sometimes a soft, bruised feel when pressed, scattered randomly across the slope. Blisters, foot scuffs, nail pops and age-related wear can look similar, so the pattern and direction of the marks matter as much as any single spot.
What a hail hit looks like
- Shape: roughly circular or oval, sized to the hailstone.
- Granules: knocked loose or pressed into the mat, with fresh granules collecting in gutters.
- Feel: a soft spot, like a bruise on fruit, where the mat underneath is fractured.
- Mat damage: on worse hits, a crack or puncture through the fiberglass mat.
- Pattern: random spacing, concentrated on slopes facing the direction the storm came from.
Look-alikes
- Blisters: raised bubbles that pop and leave small craters, often in clusters, with no bruise beneath.
- Foot scuffs: elongated marks along walking paths, usually near ladders and vents.
- Nail pops: raised bumps lined up where nails sit.
- Granule wear: even, general loss across a slope from age, not individual impact points.
- Manufacturing marks: the same mark repeated in the same spot on many shingles.
Collateral clues
Dents on gutters, downspouts, vents and metal flashing, spatter marks on painted surfaces, and dings on cars or air conditioner fins all support a hail finding. Hail around 1 inch and larger commonly damages shingles, and older shingles can be damaged by smaller stones. Check your area's history on the North Georgia Hail Map.
Do not walk the roof yourself if it is steep or the shingles are old. See Georgia hail season, and for how adjusters judge it, what roof adjusters look for.