'Incredibly busy year': In fight against hail, cloud seeders buzzing over southern Alberta

Airborne hail busters have been unusually busy over southern Alberta this summer, though Calgary’s avoided the worst of the extreme storm pummelling to date.

A small fleet of twin engine King Air C90 aircraft have been scrambled to seed 68 storms over southern Alberta so far this year amid a large number of storm warnings and advisories, said Adam Brainard, chief meteorologist with Weather Modification International.

“This has been an incredibly busy year . . . over the last five years, we’ve had more like 55 or 60 cloud seedings all summer there,” said Brainard, whose colleagues cover an area from High River north to Ponoka, and from Sundre east to Three Hills.

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“There have been seven storms with greater than golf-ball-sized hail, which is higher than any metric. A normal year is two or three, and a bad year is four.”

But he said those storms haven’t threatened Calgary this summer, a reality he cites as “simply the luck of the draw.”

That’s a far cry from catastrophic storms in recent years that have pounded parts of northeast and north-central Calgary, including a June 13, 2020, event that caused $1.3 billion in insured damages and flash flooding on Deerfoot Trail.

House siding and roofs was shredded and vehicles were beaten to a dented pulp by the violent event.

In another blast of extreme weather on Aug. 5, 2024, hailstones reaching the size of baseballs inflicted $2.8 billion in damage, making it the costliest such storm in Canadian history.

Aside from the residential mayhem, it wreaked havoc on the Calgary International Airport. The roof of Concourse B was torn open by hail, leading to extensive water damage inside. This ultimately resulted in lengthy repairs and a hastened renovation project that won’t be completed until 2027 . Additionally, 17 of WestJet’s aircraft — about 10 per cent of the airline’s fleet — were damaged by the hail.

The worst storm to hit central and southern Alberta this summer were at Rocky Mountain House and Clearwater County when hail and two tornadoes of EF2 rating swept the area.

Other significant hail events pummelled the Rimbey and Innisfail areas and Burnstick Lake, said Brainard, whose meteorologist colleagues based at the Didsbury/Olds Airport keep close tabs on weather threats.

Environment and Climate Change Canada says the largest hail this summer was recorded at Didsbury on July 8, with a diameter of 8.4 cm.