Abstract: Hail event recorders are provided which are useful in assessing the occurrence and severity of hail on roofing components, including shingles. An article as provided herein is in some embodiments attached to a roof, and a subsequent hail storm causes a physical change in a recording panel surface present on the hail damage recorder. Providing a plurality of standardized test swatches created under laboratory conditions of varying bombardments of different-sized hail and at different velocities and angles of attack enables comparison of a deformed recording panel surface to the laboratory-created test swatches, enabling verification of the occurrence of a hail event, and its severity.