August 16 Hail Sweeps the Northwest Suburbs: Arlington Heights, Palatine, Des Plaines and More

On Saturday afternoon, August 16, strong thunderstorms tracked across the northwest suburbs and left a trail of hail reports behind them. Palatine, Rolling Meadows, Arlington Heights, Mount Prospect, Des Plaines, Cary, Port Barrington, and Woodstock all saw hail, and for many of our neighbors it came down hard. Quarter-size hail, about 1 inch in diameter, was reported in Arlington Heights around 4:33 PM and in Mount Prospect around 4:39 PM, followed by half-dollar hail, about 1.25 inches, in Des Plaines around 4:44 PM. This storm rolled right through Dynasty Restoration's backyard.

Farther northwest, the stones were bigger and the damage more obvious. In Cary, hail roughly the size of ping-pong balls left holes in siding and dented cars, and the severe storms that weekend also brought down large trees and power lines in McHenry County. When hail is visibly punching holes in vinyl siding, nobody debates whether damage occurred. The harder conversations happen in towns like Arlington Heights and Mount Prospect, where quarter-size hail bounced off driveways and melted away, leaving roofs that look completely normal from the street.

Here is the uncomfortable truth about quarter-size hail: it sits right at the threshold where asphalt shingle damage begins, and it is exactly the size that gets ignored. A 1-inch stone can bruise the shingle mat, dislodge granules, and crack aging shingles, especially on the slopes that faced into the storm. The damage is subtle, often just soft spots and small dark impact marks, but it shortens the roof's life and can lead to leaks a season or two later. The holes in Cary siding are simply what happens when those same storms grow their stones another half inch.

It also helps to understand what a hail swath is. Hail does not fall evenly across a town. It falls in a relatively narrow corridor along the storm's path, sometimes only a mile or two wide, and the stone size varies along that corridor. That means your neighbor two streets over may have a roof full of bruises while yours is fine, or the reverse. You cannot judge your own roof by what happened, or did not happen, on the next block. The only way to know is to look.

Before anyone gets on your roof, you can check a few things yourself from the ground. Look at the soft metals: gutters, downspouts, window wraps, mailboxes, and air conditioner fins. Fresh dents in those materials tell you the hail at your address had real energy behind it, and they are the same clues an insurance adjuster will use to confirm the event. Granules collecting in gutters and downspout extensions are another sign worth noting.

If your home was under Saturday's storm track, our advice is simple: get a free inspection and get an honest answer. Dynasty Restoration inspects roofs across the northwest suburbs every week, and we will tell you plainly if there is no damage, because putting homeowners through an unnecessary claim helps no one. If there is damage, we document it thoroughly with photos, and we can help with the insurance process from there, including meeting the adjuster at your home so nothing gets missed.

Hail claims are governed by your policy's reporting window, so it pays to know where you stand sooner rather than later. If you are in Arlington Heights, Palatine, Mount Prospect, Des Plaines, Cary, or anywhere the August 16 storms passed, reach out to Dynasty Restoration and schedule your free storm damage inspection. A careful look now is the cheapest insurance you will ever get.