House siding and roofs were shredded and vehicles were beaten to a dented pulp by the violent event.<\/p>\n
![\"Jazz](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/calgary_herald_articles_312\/024bd889ae1a44e0877c972042380bf6.jpg\"\/)
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Jazz looks over the damage to one of two of his vehicles on August 6, 2024, as residents in Coventry Hills cleaned up after a massive hailstorm hit the night before.<\/p>\n
In another blast of extreme weather on Aug. 5, 2024, hailstones reaching the size of baseballs<\/a> inflicted $2.8 billion in damage, making it the costliest such storm in Canadian history.<\/p>\n 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\u00a0in lengthy repairs and a hastened renovation project that won’t be completed until 2027<\/a>. Additionally, 17 of WestJet’s aircraft \u2014 about 10 per cent of the airline’s fleet \u2014 were damaged by the hail.<\/p>\n The worst storm to hit central and southern Alberta this summer was at Rocky Mountain House and Clearwater County when hail and two tornadoes of EF2 rating swept the area.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Hail-fighting crews ready to go at a moment’s notice<\/p>\n When those threats are detected by Weather Modification International meteorologists at the Didsbury\/Olds airport, three aircraft based at the Springbank Airport near Calgary and two at Red Deer can be sent aloft to seed cumulonimbus clouds with silver iodide, which encourages wider distribution of smaller hailstones or rain, he said.<\/p>\n Below storm cells, silver iodide is released into the updraft while above them; the chemical is distributed by flares that burn up.<\/p>\n “We usually have three aircraft at a time and we can replace them with the other two,” said Brainard.<\/p>\n “We’re employed to address urban hail damage so anything threatening Calgary is going to get our full attention.”<\/p>\n Pilot Brian Kindrat checks over equipment on a plane used for cloud seeding and hail prevention at Springbank Airport, west of Calgary, on July 24, 2020.<\/p>\n So far this summer, Calgary’s been under five severe thunderstorm warnings compared to six during the same time from in 2025, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada.<\/p>\n “That’s pretty quiet for the City of Calgary,” said Janelle Gergely, a meteorologist with the federal weather agency.<\/p>\n From June 21 to Aug. 19, southern Alberta has been under 370 thunderstorm warnings while last year, it was 279.<\/p>\n An increase in cloud seeding flights this summer is likely due to heavy precipitation during the late spring and early summer that contributed moisture to feed more severe storms, he said.<\/p>\n And Alberta’s proximity to the Rocky Mountains and its lower freezing level in the sky leaves less time for melting and more opportunity for damaging hail stones, added Brainard.<\/p>\n “It is one of the highest propensity regions to suffer from large hail in the entire continent,” he said.<\/p>\n “In the summertime, that storm track favours Canada.”<\/p>\n Cloud seeding has been employed by the insurance industry for three decades and by Alberta for double that \u2014 and for good reason, said Keith Porter, chief engineer with the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction.<\/p>\n “The estimate for long-term cloud seeding reduction on insured costs is from one-sixth to one-third,” said Porter.<\/p>\n “Long term, that’s $100 million to $200 million a year.”<\/p>\n While Calgary’s dodged the worst of the hail so far this summer, Brainard said his company’s closely monitoring the weather over the city this week, noting a thunderstorm forecast for Thursday.<\/p>\n “We’re on call 24\/7 for sure and we’ll have resources ready to go,” he said.<\/p>\n![\"Pilot](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/calgary_herald_articles_312\/95aa2069bddffec000c0872e56c7acf7.jpg\"\/)
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