Matt Berry was driving home after golfing Monday night when cloudy skies quickly turned into a rare storm that dumped softball-sized hail, shattering his windshield and leaving about 150 dents in his car.
“I was covered in pieces of glass,” the graphic designer said as he recalled the moment he pulled off a country road to hide while driving from Innisfail, Alta., to his home in Red Deer, Alta.
“The noise was pretty loud,” he said. “It was just crazy. Scary at times, but really it was just shock and awe more than anything.
Read more: Bad weather in Alberta leaves damaged cars lined up along highway
Environment and Climate Change Canada said Wednesday that pieces of hail that fell in central Alberta ranged from the size of peas, pennies, coins, golf balls, hen’s eggs, tennis balls, baseballs and softballs.
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The Innisfail, Pine Lake, Condor, Rimbey and Ferrier areas are all affected, the agency said.
Environment Canada issued a tornado watch hours before the storm, warning that large hail could fall later in the evening and cause a dangerous and potentially life-threatening situation. At about 6 p.m., a signal was issued warning people to take cover immediately.
Videos were posted on social media after the storm of drivers on the Queen Elizabeth II Expressway _ the main route between Edmonton and Calgary _ pulling over and covering their heads as hail lashed their windows.
RCMP Cpl. Gina Slaney said 34 vehicles were significantly damaged during the storm.
Read more: Storm damage assessment underway in central Alberta
Slaney said there were also multiple minor injuries.
More serious injuries include a cut on the side of someone’s neck, she said. Three collisions were reported during the storm.
Sarah Hoffman, who is a meteorologist with Environment Canada, said the size of the hail was larger than expected.
“The Prairies are a magical place with thunderstorms, so I was expecting strong thunderstorms on Monday,” she said.
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“We all thought the maximum hail size would be about seven to eight centimeters.”
But a group that studies hail in Canada says a hailstone found in Markerville, Alta., on Monday weighed a record 293 grams.
“Some colleagues and I maintain a national database of really large hailstones from around the world, and before Monday’s event there were only 21 hailstones that weighed more than 290g that had been documented,” said Dr Julian Brimelow, executive director of the Northern Hail Project.
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NHP is very excited to announce that their field team has collected a new record large hail event for Canada on August 1, 2022! The stone fell near the village of Markerville in Alberta. Press release here: pic.twitter.com/AscXQhU2wK
— Northern Hail Project 🇨🇦 (@westernuNHP) August 3, 2022
“As far as we know, it’s also the largest hail on record to fall in Canada.”
The last recorded hailstorm in Canada occurred on August 27, 1973 in Saskatchewan.
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Brimelow said three team members found the hail on soft snow under a tree.
“It looks like the hail didn’t lose too much (ice) when it hit the ground,” he said.
It was then immediately placed in a freezer for testing.
Hoffman said the size of hail in Monday’s storm was rare for Canada.
“Alberta averages 65 severe hail reports per year,” she said. “A thunderstorm with hail becomes severe when the hail size is larger than a nickel or two centimeters.”
Hoffman said it’s also unusual for a storm to cross a major highway.
“It takes a lot to align severe thunderstorms to be as impactful on such a major transportation corridor as this,” she said.
“You have warm air under cold air, and that creates really turbulent mixing. Winds come from different directions, at different heights, at different speeds. We had a low pressure system developing over the center of the province so that was our cause of thunderstorms.
The Insurance Bureau of Canada said in an email that estimates of insured losses may not be available for several weeks. It encouraged Albertans to take photos of the damage and contact their insurance representative.
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Berry said he contacted him on the side of the road immediately after the storm and had already started the insurance claim.
“I also called the tow truck right away and I think I was the second one to contact them because she said, ‘What’s going on because my phone just exploded,'” he said.
RCMP and fire services arrived on the scene fairly quickly, he added.
He then called his mother and reached home around 10.30pm that night.
“At the end of the day, vehicles can be replaced, belongings can be replaced,” Barry said.
Hoffman said those caught in the storm mostly did what they had to do to stay safe.
“They intuitively knew what to do, which was to pull over, stop driving, cover their faces and heads with their hands and try to face the window where the wind was blowing.”
She added that the stormy weather conditions are not leaving Alberta for several days.
“It’s been very active this year, so there’s a lot of energy available for storms.”
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