Hail, the Denver roof problem
On May 8, 2017, a supercell formed in the higher foothills west of Denver and moved across the western and northern suburbs, dropping hail up to baseball size on Denver, Arvada, Lakewood and Wheat Ridge, according to the National Weather Service Denver/Boulder office. The Rocky Mountain Insurance Agency Association called it Colorado's most expensive insured catastrophe and estimated that more than 50,000 homeowner insurance claims would be filed.
A year later, on June 18 and 19, 2018, two more hailstorms hit the Denver metro area, as the National Weather Service recorded in its review of that summer. After storms like these, a drone photographs every slope, skylight, vent and row of solar panels in one visit, so roofers and adjusters can count impacts on dated images instead of walking a brittle roof.