Hailstorm Alley

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Hailstorm Alley is an area of south and central Alberta, Canada where hail storms are frequently produced. These storms frequently produce hail that is damaging to property. This area stretches from High River in southern Alberta, northward through Calgary, through Red Deer to Lacombe sometimes as far north as Edmonton and then westward to Rocky Mountain House. [1] It is known to be one of the worst areas in the world for damaging hail produced by thunderstorms. [1] These are regarded as loose boundaries. While this area is common for damaging hailstorms, the reality is damaging hailstorms occur over much of central and southern Alberta every summer. The City of Calgary is regarded as the hailstorm capital of Canada. [2]

Contents

Examples of previous storms

Cloud seeding and insurers

In 1996, insurance companies formed the Alberta Severe Weather Management Society and began the Alberta Hail Suppression Project. This project uses cloud seeding techniques to lessen the severity of hail storms. [15] [16] This society had budgeted $2.5 million in 2012 to run the suppression project, with the potential to save insurers many times this amount during one single storm by reducing claims. [17] Cloud seeding has never been statistically proven to work. [18]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Fire And Ice: Suppressing hailstorms in Alberta". Wings Magazine. 9 June 2008. Retrieved 2015-07-09.
  2. "Expensive and Deadly Hailstorm in Alberta I Desjardins Insurance".
  3. https://sites.google.com/a/ualberta.ca/tornado
  4. "The Most Destructive Hailstorms in Alberta History | Western Direct Insurance". Westerndirect.ca. Archived from the original on 2015-07-06. Retrieved 2015-07-09.
  5. https://collaboration.cmc.ec.gc.ca/science/arma/cmos_2005/Brimelow_Julian_CMOS_2005.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  6. "Calgary hailstorm sets damage record". Cbc.ca. 11 August 2010. Retrieved 2015-07-09.
  7. "Damage from Alberta hail storm pegged at $450M". Global News. 4 September 2014. Retrieved 2015-07-09.
  8. "Central Alberta hail storm causes upwards of $50 million in insured property damage". Edmonton Journal. 2016-07-28. Retrieved 2016-11-22.
  9. 1 2 "More than $200M in damage from storms this summer across prairies | Calgary Herald".
  10. https://globalnews.ca/news/5822900/edmonton-hail-storm-august-damage-ninety-million-dollars/
  11. "Calgary hailstorm that caused $1.2B in damage ranks as Canada's 4th costliest natural disaster". CBC News. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  12. "Severe Alberta weather leaves cars damaged, lined up along the highway". Global News.
  13. "Canada's largest recorded hailstone fell in Alberta". The Weather Network. 4 August 2022.
  14. "Global News Canada". www.globalnews.ca.
  15. "Alberta's cloud-seeding pilots see 2nd busiest year in 20 years". Cbc.ca. 23 August 2014. Retrieved 2015-07-09.
  16. "Alberta Hail Suppression Project". Weathermodification.com. Archived from the original on 2015-08-12. Retrieved 2015-07-09.
  17. Erika Tucker (14 August 2012). "Fact file: Cloud seeding". Global News. Retrieved 2015-07-09.
  18. Pelley, Janet (30 May 2016). "Does cloud seeding really work?". Chemical and Engineering News. 94 (22): 18–21. Retrieved 10 November 2016.