00:00Here's a hail of a twist. Softer hail may actually strip more of your roof's protective
00:05surface than harder hail. Now, that does not mean softer hail is more destructive overall.
00:11Softer hail doesn't typically get as large, but new research from the Insurance Institute for
00:15Business and Home Safety shows that hard and soft hailstones attack roof shingles in very
00:21different ways. The harder your hailstones, the more denting you're going to do on the shingles,
00:25the more opportunity for tearing you'll have after those impacts. Hard hail acts more like a
00:31hammer. It strikes, dents, and may tear the shingle before bouncing away. But researchers found that
00:37granule loss actually decreased as hailstones strength increased. Softer hail actually
00:43compresses a lot more on impact, and so you have a lot more of that shearing mechanical action upon
00:49impact. Think of it less like a hammer and more like an eraser. Researchers believe softer hail
00:53may flatten and shear across the shingle, scrubbing away granules that protect the
00:58asphalt from ultraviolet radiation. That mechanism is still a hypothesis requiring high-speed video
01:03to confirm, but the increased granule loss was measurable. So don't judge a hailstone only by its
01:09size. How hard it is and how it behaves when it hits may change the damage it leaves behind.
01:15For AccuWeather, I'm meteorologist Tony Laubach.
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