Check four things from the ground with binoculars: lifted or missing shingles, cracked or slipped tiles, granule buildup in gutters, and flashing around chimneys or vents pulling away. None of it requires a ladder, and doing it now matters because work done before the wet season costs less and is easier to schedule than the same repair done mid-storm.
Do I actually need to get on the roof to check it
No. A roof is checked from the ground with binoculars, not from a ladder. Walk the perimeter of the house and look at the roofline from several angles: the eaves, the ridge, and the valleys where two slopes meet. You're looking for shingles or tiles that sit at a different angle than their neighbors, dark streaking that suggests water is sitting somewhere it shouldn't, and any spot where the roofline looks like it's sagging compared to a straight edge.
The same binocular check covers flashing, the metal strips around chimneys, skylights, and vent pipes. Flashing that's lifted at a corner or has a gap where it meets the roofline is one of the more common points where water gets in during a heavy storm, and it's visible from the ground if you know where to look.
Why November specifically for Artesia
According to the Open-Meteo ERA5 reanalysis archive, which tracks daily maximum 10 m wind gust, Artesia's wind pattern shifts in the late fall toward the gustier days that precede winter storm systems. Those gusts are what lift an already-loose shingle or tile edge rather than causing damage on their own, which is why a roof that looked fine in September can show lifted edges by the time the first real storm arrives.
The storm record for Artesia shows the city's heavier rain and hail events cluster in the winter months rather than spreading evenly across the year. That clustering is the whole reason to look now instead of waiting: once the wet season starts, any weak point in flashing or shingles gets tested repeatedly in a short window, rather than once.
What if I find a problem now
Work done before the wet season costs less and is easier to schedule than the same work done during it, because crews are not triaging leaks. That's the practical argument for checking in November rather than waiting for a ceiling stain to force the issue. A contractor working on a dry roof in good weather can take their time; the same contractor in January is choosing between your job and three other emergency calls.
If you spot lifted shingles, cracked tiles, or flashing pulling away, the next step is getting a quote rather than guessing at the fix yourself. Describing what you saw and where you saw it, roughly which corner of the roof or which vent, helps a contractor show up with the right materials on the first visit instead of a second trip.
How do I find someone to look at it
Submitting a request through this service puts it in front of local contractors that cover your ZIP code, automatically and in under 60 seconds, and no more than 3 of them can take it on. That's the extent of what happens on the site's end. Nobody there reads the request or looks at the roof.
From that point it's between you and whichever contractors respond: ask what they saw, what they'd fix first, and whether the quote covers just the flashing or the broader roof. Comparing more than one answer is worth the extra day it takes, especially before a season where the storm record for Artesia shows the real weather tends to arrive.