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Hail Season in Central Texas: Protecting Your Gutters

By the V&V Seamless Gutters crew · Published and updated November 1, 2026

With hail and gutters in Austin, the question that matters is whether the gutter still drains. Most hail leaves dents you can see and live with. The damage worth fixing is what changes how water moves: split corners, crushed downspouts, loose hangers and low spots that hold water. Get ready before spring, then check from the ground after a storm.

When is hail season in Central Texas?

Spring. KXAN, using National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center climatology, reports that the risk of damaging hail here peaks early in May. May is also Austin's wettest month, at 5.13 inches in NOAA's 1991-2020 normals, so a damaged gutter gets tested almost at once.

NOAA's National Severe Storms Laboratory treats quarter-size hail, 1 inch or larger, as severe. Texas sees plenty of it. The Insurance Information Institute, citing NOAA, lists 902 major hail events in Texas in 2025, meaning stones of 1 inch or more. Kansas came second with 375. NSSL also notes that wind-driven hail can tear up siding and break windows, and wind tends to put that damage on the side of the house facing the storm.

What does hail actually do to a gutter?

Sort the damage into two piles: what only looks bad, and what changes the drainage. This Old House notes aluminum gutters are prone to dents, and that large dents can lead to clogs and cracks. That second part is the one to watch.

Slope is the test. A gutter falls only about 1/4 to 1/2 inch per 10 feet, so a 30-foot run drops about 3/4 inch to 1 1/2 inches end to end. A dent 1/4 inch deep in the trough cancels 5 to 10 feet of that fall. Water stands in it after every rain, and grit settles there. The same dent on the front face drains fine.

Hail gutters in Austin: can you protect them ahead of time?

Partly. Nothing on a house is hail-proof, and anyone who says so is selling something. What you can control is thickness and condition.

Thickness first. Gauge means metal thickness, and for aluminum a bigger decimal is thicker. We hang .027 aluminum as a minimum, with .032 as the heavier option, while big-box stock is often .025 or .019. Thicker metal shrugs off more small dents, though large hail will still mark it. This Old House also rates steel as more dent-resistant than aluminum. If you are weighing steel, ask us about availability when you call.

Then condition. Do these in February or March:

• Clean the gutters and flush each downspout, so spring storms start with clear channels.
• Tug-test the hangers from a safe ladder position. Loose hardware fails first when hail and wind hit together.
• Take dated photos of each side of the house. A before picture makes after-storm damage much easier to show.
• Trim limbs hanging over the roof. Hail strips leaves and twigs, and they end up in the trough.
• Reattach any downspout extension that has come loose.

Tree cover changes the to-do list. On lots like those in West Lake Hills, where steep ground and heavy oak canopy keep debris coming, shredded leaves after a storm can clog a gutter that hail never dented. That is often a job for gutter cleaning rather than repair.

How do you check your gutters after a storm?

Stay on the ground first. Wet roofs and bent hardware are no place to be, and most of what you need can be seen from the yard.

1. Walk the house and look along the gutter line. A straight line that now waves means hangers or fascia moved.
2. Check downspouts for flattened sections, and check that elbows are still connected.
3. Photograph everything, close and far, with the date. Keep the photos before any repair starts.
4. Watch the next rain, or run a hose in the gutter. Look for drips at corners, water over the front lip and dry outlets.
5. Pick up a few pieces of debris under the eaves. Lots of granules at a downspout outlet is a reason to get the roof inspected.

If water is leaving the system in the wrong place, storm gutter repair covers corners, downspouts and rehanging. If most of a run is creased, gutter replacement can be the simpler answer, since a new run is roll-formed on site to fit.

Dented, split or just ugly: how a hail repair gets decided

As a general pattern, the worst damage is on the side facing the storm, while the far side looks untouched. Dents usually get noticed first, and they are usually not the problem. The bigger issues tend to sit where nobody looks: a corner that opened a hair, a downspout elbow pushed out of line, or a hanger that let go. Old builder-grade gutters in thin metal take it harder than heavier stock. Metal guards can take dents too, so lift-check them. A guard does not shield the gutter from hail.

Patch the run or replace it?

Dents do not come out of a formed gutter cleanly, so the real choice is to live with them or replace metal. Each route has a cost beyond the bill.

• Leave the dents. It costs nothing, and the gutter drains as it did. You keep the marks, and you should keep the photos too.
• Replace a short section. It fixes one bad spot, but on a seamless run it adds joints that depend on sealant, in a place that had none.
• Replace the whole wall length. One new roll-formed piece keeps the run free of added seams. It costs more, and new paint beside sun-faded paint may not match the other sides.
• Go up to .032. It takes more small dents before it shows them. Large hail still marks it, so judge it on the whole quote.

Timing matters too. Take your photos and talk to your agent before anything comes down. A blocked downspout or a hanging run should not wait on a claim, though, because May rain will test it either way. Keep the damaged pieces if you can.

What should you know about storm contractors and insurance?

Hail brings door knockers, so know the rules before you sign. The Texas Department of Insurance says it is illegal for a contractor to offer to waive, rebate or absorb your deductible, and policyholders must pay it. TDI also says a contractor cannot act as a public adjuster on a claim for a property it is working on, or advertise that it will.

We work inside those lines. We can document gutter damage and quote the repair in writing. We do not negotiate claims. Ask your agent how your policy treats cosmetic damage to metal before deciding what to file, since that answer comes from your policy and not from any contractor. Our guide to documenting hail damage to gutters covers the photos and notes worth keeping.

Fix what stops the water

Prepare in late winter, keep your photos, and judge damage by drainage rather than by dents. When a storm leaves real problems, deal with them before the next rain, because in May that is rarely far off. Not sure which pile your damage belongs in? Call us. We will look at the gutters with you and put what needs fixing in a written quote.

Related service: storm and hail gutter repair in Austin. We also work in West Lake Hills.