Census and NOAA records show Newton, Boston, Cambridge, Medford and Lynn pair high pre-1940 housing shares with above-average hail and wind report counts
BOSTON, MA, UNITED STATES, November 8, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — BOSTON, Massachusetts. Art Slate Roofing today released a review of storm reports and pre-1940 homes, those built in 1939 or earlier, in Greater Boston. Some of these houses may still have original slate roofs that storms can damage. The findings show where older housing and storm reports overlap, which may help owners of historic homes plan roof inspections (https://artslateroofing.com/blogs/roof-inspection-near-me/). Here, Greater Boston means the 120 cities and towns located in Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk and Suffolk counties. Much of the housing in those communities is old. The U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey 2020 to 2024 5 year estimates count 1,646,560 housing units there. About 568,400, or 34.5 percent, were built before 1940, against 30.5 percent statewide and 11.7 percent nationally.
Somerville has the highest estimated pre-1940 share, at 59.0 percent, followed by Belmont at 57.1 percent and Winthrop at 55.1 percent.
Those three communities logged few storm reports. From 2016 through 2025, Somerville had 6 hail and thunderstorm wind reports in the Storm Events Database of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NOAA NCEI). Winthrop had 4 and Belmont 2.
To find overlap, the review averaged each community’s percentile ranks on both measures. Newton ranks first, with 48.8 percent of units built before 1940 and 17 reports. Boston follows with 46.7 percent and 53 reports, then Cambridge with 47.0 percent and 16 reports. Medford (48.8 percent, 10 reports) and Lynn (45.7 percent, 12 reports) come next, with Lowell and Somerville after them. Arlington and Quincy are next, and Haverhill is 10th. Lowell had 43.9 percent of its units built before 1940 and 10 reports. Arlington had 47.1 percent and 7 reports, Quincy 37.1 percent and 10, and Haverhill 37.9 percent and 9. The 120 communities averaged about 5.4 reports each over the 10 years, and half logged 4 or fewer. The Census Bureau’s TIGER/Line 2024 boundary files put Boston’s land area at about 48.3 square miles, the largest in the top 10, and its total reflects that size. Per 10 square miles, Cambridge logged 25.0 reports, Boston 11.0 and Newton 9.5. Storm report totals swing widely from year to year. Across the towns, yearly totals peaked at 128 in 2016 and 132 in 2020, then fell to 32 by 2024. County totals also partly reflect size. The count for each county depends partly on how many communities it contains and how large they are. Of the county coded hail and thunderstorm wind reports, Middlesex had 324, Norfolk 133, Essex 127 and Suffolk 67.
Industry context
Local builders often used natural slate on houses before 1940, and some of it may still be in service. Slate itself holds up. Art Slate Roofing said a natural slate roof can last about 75 to 150 years (https://artslateroofing.com/blogs/how-long-does-a-slate-roof-last/). Trouble tends to start smaller. Hail can crack a slate and wind can lift one. A historic house may also keep original details such as chimney flashing (https://artslateroofing.com/blogs/chimney-flashing-repair-boston/). Decades of patch repairs can also hide fresh damage from anyone looking up from the street. The company publishes guidance on storm damage roof repair. The guidance covers what to check after a storm (https://artslateroofing.com/blogs/storm-damage-first-48-hours/). Pre-1940 construction does not mean a house has a slate roof, and the review does not count slate roofs.
Data and method
In the 2020 to 2024 five year file, Census Bureau table B25034, “Year Structure Built,” shows Massachusetts cities and towns as county subdivisions. The figures come from the survey’s published summary file, and each community’s pre-1940 share is the number of units built in 1939 or earlier divided by its total housing units. Survey figures carry margins of error. Boston had an estimated 145,114 pre-1940 units, plus or minus 2,580. The review used the Census Bureau’s TIGER/Line 2024 boundary files for town boundaries and land area.
Storm data cover 2016 through 2025, the last 10 full years in NOAA NCEI bulk files. Reports from 2026 were left out because the year is not complete. NOAA files hail and thunderstorm wind reports by county and notes the latitude and longitude of each observation. Matching report coordinates to Census boundary files placed 652 reports from 104 storm episodes inside the 120 communities, 52 hail and 600 thunderstorm wind. Town counts follow those coordinates. One Essex County report labelled Nahant carries coordinates in Plymouth County, likely an entry error, and was not counted for Nahant. Two reports filed under Worcester and Plymouth counties, labelled Lunenburg and North Scituate, have coordinates inside towns in Middlesex and Norfolk counties and were counted there. The counts exclude high and strong wind events, which are logged by forecast zone. Those reports carry no coordinates and no town, so the review could not assign them to a community. The eight zones covering the four counties logged 502 such reports, including 95 in Eastern Essex, 77 in Western Middlesex and 74 each in Suffolk and Western Norfolk. None of these reports are in the town ranking.
Spotters, weather stations and the public file storm reports, so denser places may log more. A storm report is a point observation, and denser places have more people around to send one in. The counts show where storms were reported, not risk or damage at any address. One storm can produce several reports. A gap of a few reports between towns may mean little.
“A lot of the slate on Greater Boston houses went up before 1940,” said Arturo Nieto, founder of Art Slate Roofing. “After a hailstorm or a hard wind, one cracked slate is easy to miss from the sidewalk. Many owners never get up there.”
About Art Slate Roofing
Art Slate Roofing, LLC works on slate and copper roofs (https://artslateroofing.com/copper-roofing—repair/). Arturo Nieto started the company and owns it. Services include slate roof installation and repair, historic restoration, and chimney and gutter work. Jobs run across Greater Boston and the North and South Shores, including roofing work in Newton. The company lists Massachusetts Home Improvement Contractor registration number 176393. Its website is artslateroofing.com (https://artslateroofing.com).
Arturo Nieto
Art Slate Roofing, LLC
+1 617-913-1130
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