Insurers are adjusting their policies to require higher deductibles from those affected by hail damage. “A lot of the customers that I’m running into have had no idea that their policies changed—until hail hits their roof,” says Shick. In 2024, hail damage in the US cost more than damage from hurricanes and floods put together. Hail forms when currents of rising air in thunderstorms carry raindrops upwards to chilly parts of the storm, where they freeze. Last summer, 3-inch wide stones smashed into her property in Nebraska, damaging the roof.