Storm and wind damage
Wind does not tear a roof off from the middle. It gets under an edge — a rake, an eave, a ridge cap — and works from there.
The edges go first
A shingle is sealed to the one below it by a strip of adhesive that softens in the sun and bonds. At a rake or an eave there is nothing above to hold the top edge, so that is where uplift starts. Once one course lifts, the wind has a purchase on the next.
Ridge caps are the other common casualty. They sit at the highest point with the least protection, and a ridge cap that has slid or gone missing leaves an open seam along the top of the roof.
What to look for from the ground
Shingles in the yard or in the gutters. A visibly uneven line along the ridge. Courses that look lifted or wavy on one slope. Granules washed into a downspout outlet in quantity. Flashing that has pulled away from a chimney or a wall. Any of these justifies a closer look; none of them requires anyone climbing up in bad weather to confirm.
The filing window
Most policies expect damage from a named event to be reported within a defined period, and the further you get from the storm date the harder it becomes to attribute the damage to it. Photographs with dates, taken from the ground, cost nothing and are worth having.