After Friday's Santa Ana, Check the Windward Edge
Citium Roofing Solutions ·
The gusts are the news. The open edge they left behind is the roof.
The National Weather Service said the Santa Anas arrived on schedule and harder than forecast. By Friday, October 16, 2026, sites in the San Gabriel Mountains were already past 70 mph. North of the San Fernando Valley, Magic Mountain recorded 83 mph. A red-flag warning covered much of Los Angeles County, including the San Fernando Valley, the San Gabriel Valley and the San Gabriel Mountains, through 8 p.m. Saturday. Humidity was forecast down in the 8 to 20 percent range. Highs in a lot of the basin were headed for the 90s, and in places toward 100.
Southern California Edison shut off power to about 35,000 Los Angeles County customers so its own equipment would not start a fire. South of here, that was not a drill. The Norte fire burned more than 460 acres from San Clemente into San Juan Capistrano and destroyed at least six homes. Associated Press photographs from Friday show a roof fully involved. A separate fire, the Bryson fire, burned in the Santa Monica Mountains above Malibu. Two firefighters were taken to the hospital with heat injuries.
Glendale is not San Juan Capistrano. The houses we work on in Glendale, Burbank, La Crescenta, Tujunga, Sunland, Pasadena and Alhambra mostly did not burn. A lot of them took the same wind, on the same northeast edges, onto roofs that have been cooking since June.
What this wind takes
A Santa Ana does not invent a bad roof. It finishes one. The general version, from years of these calls, is in what these winds actually grab. Friday was a hard example of the same thing, not a new kind of weather. The pieces that leave are usually these:
- Shingle tabs whose seal strip has already turned to dust. The windward rake and the ridge go first. On a Santa Ana that is the north and east edges.
- Ridge caps nailed into a strip of soft wood.
- Edge metal that was face-nailed and never really fastened.
- Clay or concrete tiles that were already cracked and sitting loose. A gust over 70 mph does not need much of a gap.
- The corner of a flat roof, and the metal cap on a parapet. Low-slope roofs fail at the edge and at the drains, not in the middle of the field.
If you can see a bare patch from the sidewalk, look at the courses next to it, not only at the hole. Those courses stayed. The adhesive that was supposed to hold them did not.
What to do from the ground
Do not go up there this weekend to “just look.” On an old shingle roof the deck can be soft where water has already been getting in. Tile slides. Parts of the foothills are still in a power shutoff. Walk the yard. Look at the ridges, the eaves, and the ground for tabs and broken tile. If you have an attic, look for daylight that was not there on Thursday. Photograph what you find, and keep the date in the photo. That is the whole homeowner job.
Why the inspection is this week, not after the next rain
There is a second weather event sitting under this one. The weekend of October 10, the remnants of Tropical Storm Rachel put more than 2 inches of rain on some Los Angeles County mountains. We wrote that up separately, in what Rachel left under the tile. Wind this week is lifting whatever that rain got under. A shingle that is only bent today is an open slot in the next storm.
The ceiling stain, if it comes, comes later. By then the conversation with an insurer has drifted from “the wind opened it” to “the roof leaked.” The California Department of Insurance treats windstorm as a peril home policies generally cover, and wear, neglect and slow leaks as perils they generally do not. If the wind opened the roof, photograph it and keep further water out. A free inspection is how you learn whether “keep water out” means a few bundles of shingles or a tear-off.
Repair, replacement, or neither
A missing course is a repair when the rest of the slope still has its granules, the seal strips nearby still grab, and the deck under the hole is solid. It is the start of a replacement when the slope around the hole is bald, cupped, or soft in more than one place. You cannot settle that from the street. Someone has to be on the roof, with photos of the damage and of the roof beside the damage.
That visit is free. You pick the day. The result is a written scope: a repair, a replacement, or a roof that does not need us. If it is fine, that is the report. We would rather say so on Saturday than sell a roof from a satellite photo on Monday. For the longer decision, see repair or replacement. For the visit itself, see roof inspection in Glendale.
Book the free inspection
Citium comes to the house, looks at the windward edges, and tells you plainly what the roof needs. No charge. You choose the day. Call 818-531-1277, or book the visit online. Citium Roofing Solutions is at 401 N Brand Blvd, Unit L106B, Glendale, CA 91203.
Book a free inspection Call 818-531-1277 Request it on the estimate form
Questions
Did the October 16 Santa Ana damage roofs in Glendale?
There is no citywide count. Gusts over 70 mph were reported in the San Gabriel Mountains, and the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys were under a red-flag warning through Saturday evening. The edges that face the wind, mostly north and east, are the ones to look at.
Are a few missing shingles a repair or a new roof?
Missing tabs on a slope that still has its granules, and a solid deck under the hole, are a repair. The same hole on a slope that is bald, cupped or soft around it is a replacement conversation. Someone has to be on the roof to tell those apart.
Will insurance pay for Santa Ana wind damage?
Windstorm damage is generally a covered peril on California homeowners policies. Wear, neglect and slow leaks generally are not. Photograph what the wind did, and keep the next rain from turning an open edge into a long leak.
How do I book the free inspection?
Call 818-531-1277 or book a free visit online. You choose the day. Citium comes to the house, looks at the roof, and tells you whether it needs a repair, a replacement, or nothing.
Sources
- City News Service, via KFI AM 640, Santa Ana winds to intensify across Los Angeles County, October 16, 2026. National Weather Service remarks on gusts over 70 mph in the San Gabriels, a chance of 90 mph, humidity of 8 to 20 percent, and highs of 90 to 100.
- The Weather Channel, California's Santa Ana winds fuel danger, October 16, 2026. Gusts of 50 to 70 mph below passes and canyons; 83 mph at Magic Mountain, north of the San Fernando Valley.
- Westside Current, Santa Ana winds, fire danger push Edison shutoffs to nearly 35,000 L.A. County customers, October 16, 2026. Red-flag warning through 8 p.m. Saturday for the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys, among other zones.
- Los Angeles Times, SoCal braces for more Santa Ana winds as fire destroys homes in Orange County, October 17, 2026. The Norte fire, more than 460 acres, six homes destroyed, still at zero containment Friday evening.
- Amy Taxin and Olga R. Rodriguez, Associated Press, Coastal homes burn as hot winds fuel California fires, October 16, 2026. A roof engulfed in San Juan Capistrano; the Bryson fire in Malibu; two firefighters treated for heat injuries.
- California Department of Insurance, Homeowners and Renters Insurance guide. Windstorm is listed among perils generally covered. Wear and tear, neglect, and seepage are listed among perils generally not covered.