May Is When It Matters Most

Severe thunderstorms capable of producing damaging winds, large hail, and tornadoes are more frequent in May than any other month across most of the United States. The storms that develop during peak season can produce wind gusts exceeding 70 miles per hour, hailstones larger than golf balls, and torrential rain that overwhelms drainage systems in minutes. The physical preparation you do — or don’t do — before storm season peaks directly affects how much damage your home sustains and how quickly you recover.

Most storm damage is not from tornadoes. The vast majority of severe weather property damage comes from straight-line winds, hail, and flooding — hazards that affect far more homes far more often than tornadoes do, and hazards that thoughtful preparation can meaningfully reduce. A few hours of attention to your home’s storm vulnerabilities now, while weather is calm, is substantially more effective than scrambling to address them after the first major storm of the season has revealed them.

The Roof: Your Home’s First Line of Defense

The roof is the component of your home most exposed to severe weather and the most consequential to lose. Roof damage from hail or wind is the leading source of homeowner insurance claims in severe weather regions, and the difference between a roof that survives a storm and one that doesn’t often comes down to the condition it was in before the storm arrived.

Walk the perimeter of your home and look at the roof from the ground — binoculars help — examining the shingles for visible curling, cupping, cracking, or missing pieces. These are conditions that existed before any storm and that storm winds will exploit aggressively. A shingle that is already partially lifted is dramatically more likely to be torn away by 60-mph wind than one that is flat and fully adhered.

Check flashing — the metal strips that seal transitions between the roof surface and chimneys, vents, skylights, and walls. Flashing that has separated, rusted, or buckled is a water infiltration point waiting to be exploited by heavy rain. Re-sealing flashing with roofing cement is an accessible DIY repair that prevents significant water damage.

If your roof is approaching the end of its expected lifespan — typically 20 to 25 years for standard asphalt shingles — have it professionally inspected before storm season peaks rather than after the first major storm reveals its vulnerabilities. A roof inspection costs a few hundred dollars. Emergency roof repair after storm damage costs orders of magnitude more and may require waiting weeks during a period when every roofing contractor in the region is similarly overwhelmed.

Gutters and downspouts are the roof’s drainage system. Clogged gutters cause water to back up under shingles and overflow against fascia boards and foundation walls. Clean gutters now if you haven’t since the spring leaf-out, and confirm that downspouts are directing water at least four to six feet away from the foundation.

Trees and Landscaping: The Most Underestimated Hazard

Falling trees and branches are responsible for a significant fraction of severe weather home damage and storm-related fatalities. Unlike roof or window damage, tree damage often occurs not from the storm itself but from trees that were already compromised — structurally weakened by disease, decay, root damage, or previous storm stress — before the wind arrived.

Walk the perimeter of your property in calm weather and look critically at every large tree within striking distance of the house, vehicles, power lines, and other structures. Signs of concern include large dead branches — called widow-makers — that are visibly dry, brittle, or still holding dead leaves from last fall. Significant lean toward the house or other structures, particularly new lean that wasn’t present before, indicates root or structural compromise. Fungal growth at the base of the trunk, visible decay in cavities, or bark that has separated from the trunk all indicate internal rot that reduces structural integrity.

Have a certified arborist assess any tree that concerns you. The cost of professional tree assessment and removal is a fraction of the cost of a tree through the roof — and tree removal is dramatically easier to schedule during calm weather than in the days after a major storm when every tree service in the region has a backlog of emergency calls.

For smaller trees and shrubs, consider whether any are positioned where a failure would damage the house or block egress routes. These can often be addressed with pruning rather than removal.

Windows and Doors: Reducing Wind and Debris Vulnerability

Standard residential windows and doors are vulnerable to large hail and wind-driven debris — a baseball-sized hailstone or a piece of debris carried by 70-mph wind can break standard glass and allow wind and water into the structure. Once wind enters a building through a broken window or door, it dramatically increases the pressure on the roof structure from inside, which is a leading mechanism of roof failure in severe winds.

Impact-resistant windows and doors — products rated to withstand debris impacts and high wind pressures — are a significant investment but provide meaningful protection in high-storm-frequency regions. If full replacement isn’t feasible, storm shutters that can be deployed when severe weather threatens provide the same protection at lower cost. Plywood cut to window dimensions and stored in the garage is the most accessible option, though it requires advance preparation time.

Check that all exterior door hinges, strike plates, and deadbolts are secure and properly installed. Door frames that have shifted or settled over winter may no longer allow doors to close and latch properly, leaving them vulnerable to wind loading. Sliding glass doors are particularly vulnerable to wind pressure; ensure that the locks are engaged and that a security bar in the track prevents the door from being forced open by wind pressure.

Outdoor Items: The Projectiles You Create

Every unsecured outdoor item becomes a potential projectile in severe thunderstorm winds. Patio furniture, grills, planters, children’s toys, garden tools, lightweight decorations, and anything else that can be lifted and thrown by 60 to 80 mph winds becomes a hazard both to your own home and to neighboring properties.

Develop the habit of bringing in or securing outdoor items when severe weather is forecast — not when the storm is visible on the horizon with 10 minutes of warning, but the evening before or morning of a day when the Storm Prediction Center has identified severe weather potential. A Moderate or High Risk day on the SPC convective outlook is the signal to clear your outdoor spaces, not the tornado warning.

Store patio furniture in the garage or shed during storm season when it’s not in use. Anchor lightweight items that are harder to bring inside — propane tanks, potted plants in large containers, outdoor lighting — with straps or by placing them against walls or in sheltered areas.

Your Emergency Power and Communication Plan

Severe thunderstorms routinely knock out power, sometimes for extended periods. A mid-May severe weather outbreak can leave neighborhoods without power for days while utility crews work through a large number of simultaneous outages across the service territory.

If you have a generator, test it now — pull it out, add fresh fuel, start it, and confirm it runs. A generator that has sat in the garage unused since last summer’s outages may need a carburetor clean or other maintenance. Keep fuel stored properly and rotated.

If you don’t have a generator, identify what your household’s minimum power needs are for a 24 to 72-hour outage and prepare accordingly: portable battery banks for phone charging, battery-powered lighting, and a plan for food storage if refrigeration is lost for an extended period.

NOAA Weather Radio — a dedicated broadcast system that transmits continuous weather information and issues alarm tones for watches and warnings — is the most reliable severe weather alert system during power outages when internet and cellular networks may be degraded. Dedicated weather radios with battery backup are available for under $30 and provide warning capability that doesn’t depend on cellular infrastructure that can be overwhelmed during major severe weather events.

Insurance: Know What You Have Before You Need It

Severe weather season is a good prompt to review your homeowner’s insurance coverage before rather than after you need to file a claim. Key things to confirm: your dwelling coverage limit is sufficient to rebuild at current construction costs (building costs have increased substantially in recent years, and coverage limits that were adequate five years ago may not be now), your policy covers wind and hail damage (most standard homeowner’s policies do, but confirm), and you understand your deductible structure — many policies in severe weather regions have a separate, higher deductible for wind and hail claims.

Document your home’s current condition with photographs or video, including the roof, exterior walls, and all significant personal property. Store this documentation somewhere other than the house itself — cloud storage or email to yourself — so it’s available after a storm regardless of what happens to the physical home.

Prepare Now, Not During the Warning

The preparation described above is most effective when done before storm season peaks — not when a tornado watch has been issued and you have 20 minutes to act. The watch is for taking shelter. The calm week before the active pattern is for securing outdoor items, cleaning gutters, assessing trees, and testing the generator.

May’s storms will come regardless of preparation. The difference between a storm that causes minor damage and one that causes significant loss often comes down to whether the home was ready to withstand what the atmosphere is capable of producing — and that readiness is built in the quiet days before the storms arrive.