Art Slate Roofing maps older homes and storm reports across Greater Boston

Art Slate Roofing released a review showing where Greater Boston communities with high shares of pre-1940 homes also logged above-average hail and wind reports from 2016 to 2025. The data may help owners of historic houses decide when to inspect slate roofs after storms.

Why it matters: - Greater Boston has a large stock of older homes, and many of those houses may still have original slate roofs that can be damaged by hail and wind. - The review points owners of historic homes to communities where older housing and storm reports overlap, which can help prioritize roof inspections. - The region includes 120 cities and towns in Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk and Suffolk counties. - The Census Bureau estimates 34.5% of Greater Boston housing units were built before 1940, compared with 30.5% statewide and 11.7% nationally.

What happened: - Art Slate Roofing released a review of pre-1940 homes and NOAA storm reports in Greater Boston on November 8, 2026. - The review used Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020 to 2024 5-year estimates and NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database records from 2016 through 2025. - The company said the goal was to show where older housing and storm reports overlap for historic-home roof planning. - The review also used Census Bureau TIGER/Line 2024 boundary files to measure land area and place storm reports inside communities.

The details: - Somerville has the highest estimated share of pre-1940 homes at 59.0%, followed by Belmont at 57.1% and Winthrop at 55.1%. - Those three communities had relatively few storm reports over the 10-year period: Somerville logged 6 hail and thunderstorm wind reports, Winthrop 4 and Belmont 2. - The review ranked overlap by averaging percentile ranks for older housing share and storm-report count. - Newton ranked first with 48.8% of units built before 1940 and 17 reports. - Boston ranked second with 46.7% and 53 reports. - Cambridge ranked third with 47.0% and 16 reports. - Medford ranked fourth with 48.8% and 10 reports. - Lynn ranked fifth with 45.7% and 12 reports. - Lowell followed with 43.9% of units built before 1940 and 10 reports. - Arlington had 47.1% and 7 reports. - Quincy had 37.1% and 10 reports. - Haverhill had 37.9% and 9 reports. - The 120 communities averaged about 5.4 hail and thunderstorm wind reports each across the 10 years, and half logged 4 or fewer. - Boston had the largest land area among the top 10 communities at about 48.3 square miles. - Per 10 square miles, Cambridge logged 25.0 reports, Boston 11.0 and Newton 9.5. - Annual storm-report totals across the towns peaked at 128 in 2016 and 132 in 2020, then fell to 32 in 2024. - County totals for hail and thunderstorm wind reports were 324 in Middlesex, 133 in Norfolk, 127 in Essex and 67 in Suffolk. - Boston had an estimated 145,114 pre-1940 housing units, plus or minus 2,580. - The review counted 652 reports from 104 storm episodes inside the 120 communities, including 52 hail reports and 600 thunderstorm wind reports. - One Essex County report labeled Nahant carried coordinates in Plymouth County and was not counted for Nahant. - Two reports filed under Worcester and Plymouth counties, labeled Lunenburg and North Scituate, had coordinates inside towns in Middlesex and Norfolk counties and were counted there. - The review excluded high and strong wind reports because those are logged by forecast zone and do not include coordinates or town names. - The eight forecast zones covering the four counties logged 502 high and strong wind reports, including 95 in Eastern Essex, 77 in Western Middlesex and 74 each in Suffolk and Western Norfolk. - The review did not count slate roofs directly, and pre-1940 construction does not mean a house has a slate roof.

Between the lines: - Older housing and storm-report density do not always track together. Somerville, Belmont and Winthrop have the oldest housing shares in the review but comparatively few storm reports. - Dense places can generate more storm reports because more people are available to file them, so report counts show where storms were noticed, not necessarily where damage was worst. - The company’s framing suggests a practical takeaway: a small amount of hidden roof damage can be easy to miss from the street, especially on older homes with decades of patch repairs. - Art Slate Roofing founder Arturo Nieto said many Greater Boston slate roofs were installed before 1940, and one cracked slate can be difficult to spot after hail or wind.

What's next: - Homeowners in older Greater Boston neighborhoods may use the findings to decide when to schedule roof inspections after storms. - Art Slate Roofing says it provides storm-damage roof repair guidance, including what to check in the first 48 hours after a storm. - The company also publishes guidance on slate roof lifespan, chimney flashing repair and copper roofing work.

The bottom line: - Greater Boston’s oldest housing stock overlaps with repeated hail and wind reports in several places, making post-storm roof checks especially relevant for owners of historic homes.