Southern Alberta Hammered by Massive Hailstorm, Residents Left Reeling
So, over the weekend, southern Alberta — especially around the Cardston area — was absolutely battered by a violent summer storm, and people there are once again cleaning up the mess. It was a short-lived but seriously intense weather event on Sunday evening, with heavy rain and hail that reached the size of tennis balls. Yeah, you heard that right — tennis balls. This wasn't your average summer shower.
The storm rolled in around 8 p.m. and lasted just about 20 minutes, but in that brief time, it left a trail of destruction. Vehicles were dented so badly that many can't even be driven until they're repaired. Windows were shattered, large tree branches snapped like twigs, and crops — acres and acres of them — were completely wiped out. It looked like nature just decided to hit “reset” on the area’s landscape.
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In Cardston alone, the damage was extensive. Trevor Jones, who manages operations at Carstar — a local auto body repair shop — said by 10 a.m. Monday morning, one insurance company already had over 50 claims, and that was just in a two-hour window. He expects those numbers to skyrocket as more people assess the damage.
Then there’s Kyle Nish, a farmer who lost about 3,000 acres of his crops. He said he was genuinely excited about the harvest — things were looking great — and in just 15 minutes, all that hard work was gone. Equipment on his farm also took a hit. He described hailstones as being golf-ball-sized or even larger.
It wasn’t just rural areas, either. Calgary got hit too, though not with the same massive hail. The city saw yet another round of torrential rain Monday morning, just in time for the commute. Some areas have already recorded up to 184 mm of rainfall in July, putting the city close to breaking monthly records set nearly a century ago.
Even more troubling, large portions of southern Alberta — all the way from Calgary to the Montana border and out east to Medicine Hat — were under another severe thunderstorm watch on Monday. Environment Canada warned of more hail, possibly up to five centimeters in diameter, and winds reaching over 100 kilometers an hour.
Thankfully, some relief is in sight. A warm front is expected to move in soon, bringing clearer skies and temperatures in the high 20s or even low 30s by midweek. But after the kind of damage that was just dealt, it’s safe to say many southern Albertans will be picking up the pieces for a while.
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