(rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

LIGHT SHOW

Most electrified storm in years: Environment Canada

Jun 14, 2020 | 3:02 PM

A large chunk of Alberta, particularly in the south and central regions, were throttled by severe thunderstorms on Saturday.

It began around the supper hour with images on social media showing Calgary and the surrounding area grappling with how to escape a flooded Deerfoot Trail.

There was also footage showing the siding of homes pock-marked from hail. In the Duchess area, 100 mm hail fell — the size of a grapefruit.

“We had a pretty big broad system moving into southern Alberta from Montana. Most of the storm started by 6 p.m. down in the Cardston area, near Lethbridge and Milk River,” says Meteorologist Alysa Pederson with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC).

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Pederson says ECCC is investigating reports of three tornados, only one of which is believed to have possibly touched down near New Dayton around 7:30. ECCC says there isn’t yet enough evidence to prove that it did.

The storm, which was advised of prior in the day by Environment Canada, then offered quite the light show to the Red Deer region.

“Last night, within 50 km of Red Deer, there were 7,033 strikes of lightning, most of which were to the east of the city where the more intense part of that storm was, but there was some off to the west as well,” she says.

“One interesting thing in looking at previous summers, starting with 2019, is that the biggest when it comes to lightning reported within 50 km of Red Deer had 3,024 strikes, and that was on July 13.”

In 2018, the largest had 6,400 strikes and was on July 18. In 2017, the largest was on July 9 and had around 6,600 strikes.

“So with the amount of lightning — compared to storms between 2013 and now — it was the most electrical storm within 50 km of the city.”

Red Deer evaded most of the hail, but significant hail was reported in eastern communities such as Didsbury, where it was 21-24 mm, or nickel to quarter-sized.

Meantime, wind gusted up to 80 km/h in the Red Deer area, Pederson reports, and it weakened to the mid-60 km/h range once reaching Edmonton.

Elsewhere, Rocky Mountain House had 24-hour rainfall amounts (ending at 6 a.m. June 14) of 49.7 mm, Delburne saw 34.3 mm, and Three Hills received 31.7 mm.

Pederson admits it’s difficult to say if this storm is foreshadowing of what’s to come this summer, but it is interesting to note, she says, that this one occurred in June when most of the bigger ones of previous years took place in July.

She adds that it’s possible the warm air mass over Alberta, coupled with the cold air mass over B.C. which caused record lows in that province on Saturday, contributed to the extreme weather in our province.

If you have pictures or footage, particularly related to tornados which possibly occurred near SE Calgary, McNab, and Chin Lakes/Barnwell/Taber — all between 7 and 8 p.m., call 1-800-239-0484, or email ec.storm.ec@canada.ca or abstorm@canada.ca.

Hail in Alix, Alta, where Dar Tanner says several vehicles sustained damage, including smashed windshields. (@DarTanner on Twitter)