Storms leave 120-mile scar in Alberta visible from space (images)

Canada's "hailstorm alley" just produced a storm with a scar visible from space.

Satellite imagery from NASA caught the aftermath of a hailstorm that ripped through a region southeast of Calgary, Alberta on Aug. 20. The scar, roughly 125 miles (200 km) in length, is especially visible because vegetation in the late summer "has matured and greened up," agency officials wrote on Aug. 28.

Western University in southern Ontario, which studied the 9-mile (15-km) wide storm swath as part of its Northern Hail Project, stated the aftermath was "among the worst" the project had ever seen.

"Crop damage in this swath was total, with grain crops leveled and corn left as mostly bare stalks," read a statement provided to Canadian public broadcaster CBC in a report Sunday (Sept. 7). "Even areas of grassland were pulverized, with grass root systems exposed and native shrubs denuded and debarked on their western facing sides."

Alberta is not as prone to severe thunderstorms as some parts of the United States, NASA officials noted, but dozens of hail events happen there every year.

Alberta's infamous hailstorms come both due to elevation and proximity to the Rocky Mountains, the Insurance Bureau of Canada states: "This mix creates air full of moisture at a lower level, and very cold and dry currents above coming from the peaks." And in general, extreme weather in Canada and other regions is getting stronger due to climate change.

The August supercell storm that sparked this damage saw winds gusting as high as 93 mph (149 km/hr), and hail as large as golf balls, NASA stated. The agency's Terra and Aqua satellites imaged the aftermath on Aug. 24, both using versions of the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) instrument.

Aside from the losses of alfalfa, canola, and wheat reported by some farmers, others had livestock issues. "I had my barn roof half lifted off," Curtis Harbinson, a cattle farmer in the area of Brooks, Alberta, told CBC in another report on Aug. 22.

Harbinson was in the field when the storm hit, and remained in his tractor to ride it out. After he emerged "disoriented" due to the unrecognizable landscape, he also found extensive hailstone damage to his house: 'I have no west side windows, nothing," he said, due to hail "smashed in into our room, bedrooms, our living room, our kitchen … we're still picking up glass."

In August 2024, a highly punishing Calgary-area hailstorm generated more than $2 billion ($2.8 billion CAD) in insured losses, according to estimates from Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc. quoted in IBC.

But it's too early to know how much this new storm will cost, as "clients are continuing to scout their damage and file claims," Yves Dooper, claims adjusting coordinator with Agriculture Financial Services, told the Western Producer Aug. 25.