What the October 27 Kent Hail Report Cannot Measure

The October 27, 2026 hail report near Kent records a date, a place, and hail up to 2.00 inches. It does not measure damage on any one property, so dated site photos still have to show the condition there.

By Marshall Smith, IAUA Certified Property Appraiser and Umpire (CPAU) · Published October 31, 2026 · 8 min read · Filed under Claim Documentation

The NOAA Storm Prediction Center listed one hail report near Kent, in Jeff Davis County, on 2026-10-27, with hail up to 2.00 inches. That report records a date, a place, and a size. It does not measure the damage on any one property, so dated photos at the site still have to show the condition there.

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center

What that one Kent Texas hail report records

If you went looking for a Kent Texas hail report, start with what it is. The NOAA Storm Prediction Center lists one report near Kent, in Jeff Davis County, dated 2026-10-27, with hail up to 2.00 inches.

That is the whole reading. A storm report places hail in time and near a community. It names a size. It does not name your address, your roof, your shop, or your barn.

Keep the size as published. Up to 2.00 inches. Do not round it up. One report is not a map of every roof in the county. Hail can reach one building and miss another. The report does not sort that out. Your photos do.

A storm report is not photos of your place

Start with storm report versus site photos. The report fixes a date, a place, and a reported size. The photos fix the condition at your buildings.

A date and a size near a place are not the loss at one address. Amount of loss is the scope of the damage and the price to repair or replace it, under the facts and the policy. A reading near Kent cannot produce that figure for your house. It was never meant to.

The carrier and the policyholder can hold the same report and still need the same site record. Both sides should be looking at the buildings. Treat the report as a folder label, not as the photos inside it.

Do not write a dollar figure on that label. Do not write that the loss is covered or is not covered. Photos show condition. They do not decide what a policy pays.

When the buildings sit far apart

If the property is spread out, walk it as more than one roof. A house, a shop, a barn, and a small outbuilding can sit far apart. Hail reported near Kent does not tell you which building it reached.

Walk them one at a time, in an order you can repeat. Do not skip a building because it looks fine from the road. Start each building with a wide photo that shows the whole structure and something that identifies it. A gate, a tank, a sign, or the view back to the house is enough. Then move closer.

A close photo with no wide photo is hard to place later. A wide photo with no close photo does not show the mark. Give each building its own set of photos. Do not mix the shop roof and the house roof in one unlabeled group. A reader should know which building is which without calling you.

Before you leave a building, write a short note. Say what you saw, what you could not see, and whether you stayed on the ground. If a building was locked, or too far to reach safely that day, write that down. You can go back, and you should date that return the same way.

Jeff Davis County hail documentation is this walk plus the report. The county name on the reading does not document your shop. Your photos of that shop do.

If the roof is metal, get close

If the roof is not metal, photograph the material you have. If it is metal, slow down. Metal roof hail marks on a West Texas panel are often small, and they are easy to miss from the driveway.

A dent can be shallow. A coating mark can be faint. A fastener can sit a little high, or a washer can look cut or displaced. They show the condition of that panel on the day you photographed it. They do not, by themselves, set the amount of loss.

Take a wide photo of the slope first, so the location is clear. Then take the mark up close, with a coin or a tape in the frame. A photo that could be any roof is a weak photo. Photograph a short row of fasteners, not only the one that looks worst. A row shows whether the mark is alone or repeated. Name the slope in the note. North edge, south slope, or over the shop door is enough.

Get close enough that a coating mark is visible. If you cannot do that safely, do not climb. Write that the roof was not safely reached. Stay off a steep, wet, or soft roof. A photo is not worth a fall. Ground photos, and photos from a ladder on firm footing, are enough to start the record. If the roof needs a closer look than you can take safely, that can wait for an inspection. Your dated photos from the ground still come first.

2.00 inch hail property photos are pictures of your panels, fasteners, and coating, not a reprint of the report.

Gutters, vent caps, and screens

Smaller parts are easier to reach, and they help the same record. Look at gutters and downspouts. Soft metal can dent. Photograph the dent and enough of the run to show where it sits. Name the building and the side.

Look at vent caps, flue caps, and other thin metal. A crease or a dent needs two photos, one close and one wide enough to place it. Look at window screens from the ground. A hole, a tear, or a screen pushed in is worth a photo that includes the window trim. Do not write that every tear came from hail. Record what is there, and the date you saw it.

These marks do not replace roof photos. They show what was present at that building on that day. Set them next to the roof notes. If a gutter run looks unmarked, a quick photo of that run still helps. A file that shows only the worst mark is harder to trust than a file that shows the building as it was. Both the carrier's reviewer and the policyholder should see the same set.

Write the date, and keep the report with the photos

Write the date on every note. Use the day you took the photos, and leave the camera dates as they are. Do not rename files in a way that strips the date.

Keep the two dates straight. The report date is 2026-10-27. Your photo date may be that day or a later day. Write both. A simple line works: photos taken on the day you walked, report date 2026-10-27. A later photo still shows the condition on the day you took it. It does not rewrite the report, and the report does not rewrite the photo.

Save the published report in the same folder as the photos. If you print it, include the date and the place. Label the folder with the building name, your photo date, and the report date. A clear label should make sense without a phone call.

Do not add a repair price. Do not write that the loss is covered or not covered. Your notes record condition. If a mark is faint in the photo, say so in the note. Keep a second copy of the folder.

If you and the carrier disagree on the amount

Photos do not force a result. They give both sides the same view of the condition you recorded. Any result depends on the facts and the policy.

If your policy contains an appraisal clause, that clause is the term both sides agreed to for setting the amount of loss. Check your own policy for how a demand is made and how each side names an appraiser. Most policies that have this clause spell those steps out. Yours may differ.

Appraisal determines the amount of loss only. It does not decide whether the loss is covered. Whether a loss is covered at all is a separate determination under the policy, made by the carrier and, where the parties disagree, resolved by a court. The appraisers and the umpire never decide it.

Here is what to expect if your policy provides for appraisal. Each side selects its own independent appraiser. The appraiser inspects and states a position. A position is that appraiser's written view of the amount of loss. If the two appraisers agree, their agreement can be written as an award. An award is the written decision on the amount of loss. If they cannot agree on some items, a neutral umpire decides those items only. The umpire is not an advocate for either side, and the umpire does not decide coverage.

The panel can review your dated photos, your notes, and the storm report. Share that full set with both appraisers.

Marshall Services can serve as the independent appraiser one side appoints, or as the neutral umpire when one is needed. In either role the work is independent and rests on the evidence. The firm cannot promise an outcome.

The same gap between a report and a roof shows up closer to Midland as it does near Kent. A town-level report is not a measurement of one building.

If the disagreement is about the amount of a hail loss, and if the policy contains an appraisal clause, both sides can use a hail damage insurance appraisal. How the process works on Texas property is explained under insurance appraisal in Texas. Read your policy before you invoke it. For a legal question, including any deadline, ask a licensed attorney. This page is not legal advice.

Save the report, then walk the property

Here is what to do next. Save the report. Walk each building. Take dated photos of the roof, the gutters, the vent caps, and the screens. Write the date on the notes. Keep the report in the same folder as the photos.

If you and the carrier later disagree on the amount of loss, that folder is what an independent appraiser can review. If you want to talk through whether appraisal fits your file, Marshall Services offers a free consultation. Call 972-322-0752. We will explain the process. We will not promise a result.

Thank you.