Severe Hail Storm Results in Widespread Damage and Traffic Delays in Calgary and Southern Alberta.
A powerful storm brought large damaging hail and heavy rain to the Calgary area Aug. 5, inflicting extensive damage on homes, vehicles, and the Calgary International Airport.
Although no tornado warnings had to be issued for the area, Environment and Climate Change Canada published a severe thunderstorm warning for Calgary Monday. The advisory predicted the impending thunderstorm could generate strong wind gusts of more than 100 kilometres per hour, large hail, and heavy downpours.
“We can confirm there has been damage to YYC’s terminal building due to hail and heavy rainfall,” the airport said in a subsequent post. “At this time we are prioritizing the safety of all guests and staff and clearing the impacted areas. We are currently assessing the damage and its impact to operations.”
The airport said while parts of the Domestic Terminal Building will remain closed as work is done to clean up the water and assess the damage, flights remain operational Aug. 6 as operations are “shifted” to other gates.
The stormy weather arrived just on time to make the commute home an interesting one for Calgarians, according to the Weather Network.
“Please don’t stop under bridges and overpasses,” he wrote. “You endanger not only every single person trapped behind you, but yourself as well.”
An Environment Canada weather summary published Aug. 6 said Queenstown, a hamlet 92 kilometres southeast of Calgary, endured baseball-sized hail of up to 7.5 centimetres around, while Mossleigh had tennis ball-sized hail.
In Calgary, the hail was the size of a hen’s egg, the summary said, adding that Environment Canada had received “many reports of hail damage … along with localized flooding” in the city.
The strongest wind was recorded in Tilley, the weather service said, with gusts reaching 100 km/h.