Storm risk in Roanoke (independent city), Virginia

How FEMA rates Roanoke

Expected yearly loss, in dollars

Rank 1 is the highest. Overall, hail and wind losses count buildings; the tornado row counts everything FEMA exposes, so it overstates building damage. Expected annual loss is an average over many years for the whole county, not a forecast for one roof.

What stands out in Roanoke

• FEMA expects hail in Roanoke to cost $4.66 per $1 million of buildings a year: 0.21 times the U.S. median and 0.86 times the VA county median, ranked 2,451st of 3,126 counties nationally and 88th of 133 in Virginia.
• FEMA expects strong wind in Roanoke to cost $16 per $1 million of buildings a year: 0.79 times the U.S. median and 1.09 times the VA county median, ranked 1,785th of 3,121 counties nationally and 57th of 133 in Virginia.
• FEMA expects tornado in Roanoke to cost $20 per $1 million of buildings a year: 0.10 times the U.S. median and 0.37 times the VA county median, ranked 2,666th of 3,144 counties nationally and 113th of 133 in Virginia.
• NOAA has only 2 hail reports for Roanoke in 12 years, too few for a trend; FEMA's 157 counted hail events cover a longer record.
• Applying FEMA's estimate to a $180,500 home, the average yearly loss in Roanoke is about $0.84 for hail and $2.91 for wind before any deductible; at the U.S. median county rates it would be $4.03 and $3.68.
• If the next years look like 2014 to 2025, a roof kept 20 years in Roanoke meets about 1.7 hail days of 1 inch or more; the median county in NOAA's file (1,275 counties) would give 35.0.
• Built in 1959, the median home in Roanoke is 67 years old, so an original roof has outlived a 3-tab shingle (15 to 20 years) and an architectural one (25 to 30 years); 91.2% of its 48,931 homes are at least 26 years old.
• March to June holds 0 of the 2 hail reports in Roanoke (0 percent); the quietest month is January, with 0 reports.

What hail and wind cost a home here in an average year

Enter a home value. The calculator applies Roanoke’s own loss rate: the county’s expected yearly loss divided by the value of its buildings. It starts at the Census median home value for the county.

Read this as a yardstick. The rate is an average over every building in the county, from sheds to office towers, and over many years. Real losses come in rare, large storms; a roof with no damage in 19 years can need full replacement in the 20th. The figure is not a quote and not a prediction for one address.

Roanoke in plain numbers

• Roanoke scores 72.87 in FEMA's overall hazard index (Relatively Low): 854th of 3,144 rated counties and 13th of 133 in Virginia.
• Hail scores 47.23 (Relatively Low). FEMA expects $112,474 of hail damage to buildings in Roanoke a year, which is $4.66 per $1 million of buildings, 0.21 times the U.S. median.
• Strong wind scores 88.93 (Relatively High) with $389,307 of expected yearly building loss in Roanoke: $16 per $1 million of buildings, 0.79 times the U.S. median.
• Tornado scores 33.05 (Relatively Low) and FEMA's expected yearly tornado loss is $475,247, counting everything exposed, or $20 per $1 million of buildings in Roanoke.
• FEMA's own event record for Roanoke averages 4.13 hail events and 3.38 strong-wind events a year.
• NOAA logged 2 hail reports in Roanoke between 2014 and June 2026, on 1 day with stones of 1 inch or more; the largest was 2 inches.
• In Roanoke, FEMA counts buildings worth 24.15 billion dollars and 99,966 residents.
• Social vulnerability is Relatively High in Roanoke.
• Community resilience there is Relatively Moderate, for 99,966 residents.
• 1 city in Roanoke is covered on this site: Roanoke. 6 Census ZIP areas have more than half of their land in the county.
• Our guide range for a 2,000 sq ft asphalt roof in Roanoke is $6,860 to $15,190.
• Roanoke ranks 159 of the 194 counties with a page here for hail loss per $1 million of buildings, 74 for wind and 186 for tornado.
• In Roanoke, July is the busiest month with 1 of the 2 reports (50 percent), against 0 reports in January.
• Roanoke's worst year was 2019, with 1 hail day at 1 inch or more and 1 report. At the 2014 to 2025 pace that is 0.08 such days a year, one about every 144.0 months.
• The median home in Roanoke was built in 1959; 76.8% of its 48,931 housing units date from before 1980, 91.2% from before 2000 and 3.3% from 2010 on.
• Census puts the median home value in Roanoke at $180,500, and 51.7% of homes are lived in by their owners.
• 607 single-family building permits were issued in Roanoke from 2014 to 2025, about 12.4 per 1,000 homes, peaking in 2024.
• The fastest gust in NOAA's records for Roanoke is 63 mph on August 15, 2016 at Sunset Vlg.
• The nearest county with a page here is Lynchburg (independent city), 44 miles from the centre of Roanoke; its hail score is 28.34.
• Across counties the median is one roofing firm for every 5,189 homes; Census counted 8 roofing contractor establishments in Roanoke in 2023, one for every 6,116 homes.

The hail record of Roanoke, year by year

NOAA logged 2 reports in Roanoke; hail of 1 inch or more fell on 1 day. With so few reports the yearly bars below are small numbers, and a single storm moves them.

Biggest hail days in Roanoke

Where large hail was reported

FEMA scores the county as a whole. NOAA’s reports show where inside Roanoke the big stones fell.

Wind and tornado records for Roanoke

How old the roofs are

Census counts homes by the decade they were built. Under each bar is the number of hail days of 1 inch or more that an original roof from that decade has met, at Roanoke’s 2014 to 2025 pace of 0.08 such days a year. Most roofs have been replaced since; the row shows what a roof that never was would have taken.

Roofers and past disasters in Roanoke

Nearby counties

The closest counties that have a risk page, by distance between county centres. Loss is per $1 million of buildings; the columns marked "times here" divide the neighbour's loss by Roanoke's.

All 194 counties, with a filter by state and sorting

Cities and ZIP areas in Roanoke

1 city in this county is on PickARoofer. ZIP Code Tabulation Areas are Census shapes that approximate ZIP codes; where we have a city’s ZIPs, the share is the part of each area’s land that lies in this county. 6 such areas have more than half their land here.

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