Researchers chase storms, study fist-sized stones in Alberta's ‘Hailstorm Alley'
Brimelow and other researchers from Western University in London, Ont., are using it in their research to better understand and predict Alberta's prevalent hailstorm activity and mitigate harm to people and property.
Hail can be bad across the Prairies. But Brimelow says when it hits in Alberta, it hits hard.
'It's much worse than I thought it could be in terms of damage potential,' Brimelow said Tuesday at the project's open house at the Telus Spark Science Centre.
'On the same day as the (2024) Calgary hailstorm, there was a storm farther south and that decimated six to seven-foot corn crops to the point that our team wasn't sure it was actually corn,' he said. 'It was that pummeled into the ground.'
Story continues below advertisement
View image in full screen
Members of the public examine a replica of a record breaking hailstone on display at an information session hosted by the Northern Hail Project Tuesday at Spark Science Centre in Calgary. Global News
'Hailstorm Alley' runs from High River, just south of Calgary, north to central Alberta. The area sees more than 40 hailstorms every summer, causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage.
Brimelow, executive director of the Northern Hail Project — a branch of Western University's Canadian Severe Storms Laboratory — said it's probably the most active hailstorm zone in Canada.
0:58
Researchers say Alberta's largest documented hailstone fell Monday, measuring 12 cm
A storm in Calgary last August brought significant hail, strong winds, heavy rain and localized flooding, affecting about one in five homes.
Story continues below advertisement
The Insurance Bureau of Canada estimated the damage to the city, deemed the country's second-costliest weather-related disaster, at $3.25 billion.
Get daily National news
Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy
Hailstones as big as golf balls hammered the tarmac at Calgary International Airport, damaging planes at WestJet and Flair Airlines and forcing them to ground 10 per cent of their fleets for repairs and inspections.
View image in full screen
One of the thousands of homes that were heavily damaged by a monster hailstorm that hit northeast Calgary in August of 2024. The $3.25 billion in insurable damage made it the second costliest disaster in Canadian history. Global News
Brimelow said such hailstorms are underestimated at one's peril. Several small animals and pets were killed in Calgary last year, he said, and an infant was killed in Europe in 2023.
The research sees stones collected on scene, preserved in a mobile freezer, and later measured, weighed, photographed and perhaps replicated.
'The more interesting stones we'll 3D scan and then we can make prints,' he said.
Story continues below advertisement
Copies of several realistic hailstones were on display at the open house, ranging in size from a walnut to a golf ball and one bigger than a large hand.
'This is the new record-sized Canadian stone. This fell in 2022 near Innisfail,' Brimelow said. 'This is 12.3 centimetres across and nearly weighs 300 grams. This would have been falling at 160-plus kilometres an hour.'
View image in full screen
Researchers with the Northern Hail Project explain the science of hailstorm to interested members of the public during an information session at Calgary's Spark Science Centre on Tuesday, July 22, 2025. Global News
The team's field co-ordinator, Jack Hamilton, said the size and shape of the stones provide researchers with information on what happens inside the storms.
'It was long thought that the hailstone sort of goes through the storm in a washing machine cycle. But we're actually learning that it's probably just once, maybe twice, that the hailstone goes through the storm and it collects all of its mass in that one travel through,' Hamilton said.
Story continues below advertisement
'It gets bigger and bigger, and eventually gravity takes over and it falls. And it falls pretty fast.'
To get the stones, they first have to chase them.
Hamilton said their chase vehicles have a protective coating against hail and are equipped with storm-locating radar and a lightning detector for safety.
'Our primary objective is to collect as much data as we possibly can,' he said. 'We go in behind these storms, and we collect the hail that falls behind it.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Global News
an hour ago
- Global News
Special air-quality statement for northern Ontario from Prairies wildfire smoke
See more sharing options Send this page to someone via email Share this item on Twitter Share this item via WhatsApp Share this item on Facebook Wildfire smoke from the Prairies has prompted a special air-quality statement over much of northern Ontario Saturday. Environment Canada says smoke from forest fires is causing reduced visibility and poor air quality that is expected to persist into Sunday for some areas. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy The statement spans the northern part of the province stretching from North Bay and into western Quebec. The weather agency says reduced air quality can cause mild eye, nose and throat irritation while more serious but less common symptoms include chest pains and a severe cough. It recommends limiting time outdoors and rescheduling any outdoor activities or sports. The air quality in North Bay, Thunder Bay and Sault Ste. Marie on Saturday morning was rated a seven or 'high risk.'
CBC
5 hours ago
- CBC
Extreme weather caused by climate change increasingly cancelling major events: study
Social Sharing More and more major cultural, social, business and arts events around the world are being disrupted or cancelled by extreme weather events caused by climate change, according to a new study published in the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. The study, Mapping the impact of extreme weather on global events and mass gatherings: Trends and adaptive strategies, details that from 2004 to 2024 more than 2,000 mass gatherings were reportedly disrupted around the world, with events in British Columbia accounting for 74. According to Shawna McKinley, co-author of the study and instructor of sustainable event management operations at the B.C. Institute of Technology, the number of events disrupted has increased in recent years, particularly in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic. McKinley said arts, cultural and sports events are particularly vulnerable. She said there are hot spots where a disproportionate number events have been disrupted. In Canada, this includes cities like Halifax, Calgary, and Kelowna, as well as the entire province of B.C. She said in other places, hurricanes, heat and flooding are often to blame for disruptions, but in B.C., wildfires and smoke are often to blame, as well as heat. 'Things that festivals take extremely seriously' Erin Benjamin, president of the Canadian Live Music Association, said her industry is very aware of the impact that extreme weather driven by climate change is having on events. "We're really pre-occupied with the way weather is becoming more and more severe over time — everything from cancelling events to having to evacuate sites, to having to elevate and escalate emergency preparedness plans," Benjamin said. "All of these things are things that festivals take extremely seriously." She said the live music industry adds $11 billion to Canada's GDP annually and creates more than 100,000 jobs, but many organizations and festivals are operating close to the financial edge and it can be impossible to recover from a cancellation. "There is an economic aspect, there's a cultural aspect and certainly there's a social aspect, and for all of these reasons and others, we need to be very preoccupied with the impact of severe weather on outdoor concerts and festivals," Benjamin said. WATCH | Outdoor festival and events organizers are being forced to beef up insurance and plan for disruptions Extreme weather forcing changes to outdoor festivals, sporting events 12 months ago As extreme weather events become more common, outdoor festival and events organizers are being forced to beef up insurance and plan for disruptions with new safety strategies that can come at steep financial cost. She said there are organizers reacting to weather events and then there are those who are adapting to climate change. The study notes an example in B.C., the Salmon Arm Roots and Blues festival in the province's Interior. Benjamin recalled attending the festival several years ago — a particularly smokey experience due to wildfires in the area. Last year the festival was scheduled one month earlier than in previous years — in late July instead of late August — as a way to try to reduce weather-related disruptions. "Relocating on the calendar is a possibility for some folks, but not all, and it's not really a strategy that all can use," Benjamin said. Indoor mass gatherings also potentially affected Music festivals seem especially vulnerable to weather-related disruptions, as they're typically held outdoors, but McKinley said even less obvious types of events, like indoor business conferences can also be upset when things like major storms ground aircraft and attendees can't make it to to the event. She said emergencies like wildfires or flooding could also affect business events when evacuees and first responders fill up hotels and leave conference-goers nowhere to stay. McKinley said her research team gathered accounts of as many disrupted events as they could in the years studied and looked for overlaps with studies that highlighted the role of climate change causing the weather events or making them more extreme — something that occurred in 57 per cent of cases. "If we look at an area like British Columbia, you need to be anticipating escalating heat, you need to be anticipating more extreme urban rainfall events," McKinley said. "That is just going to make things a bit more unpredictable."
Global News
6 hours ago
- Global News
'Not out of the woods yet,' BC Wildfire Service warns of very dynamic fire situations
ens of thousands of lightning strikes across British Columbia since Wednesday have created 'a very dynamic' wildfire situation, with more than half the current fires started since the storms. Emelie Peacock, an information officer with the BC Wildfire Service, said a week of dry and hot weather combined with lightning led to many new fire starts. Since Wednesday, more than 35,000 lightning strikes were recorded across the province, Peacock said. Severe thunderstorm watches remained in place on Friday for a large swatch of the southern Interior and stretching to locations into the northeast. Above-seasonal temperatures, especially in the southern Interior, roasted many parts of the province earlier in the week, Peacock said. 'So, we've certainly seen the southern parts of the province really come on board later in the season than we're used to, but the southern parts of the province are now fully in wildfire season,' she said in an interview Friday. Story continues below advertisement The lightning storms set off 65 new fires between Thursday and Friday, with some of them burning close to communities in the Interior, in the Fraser Canyon and on the Vancouver Island. There are about 130 active wildfires burning in the province. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy While she said the cooling trend and showers 'are going to help us out,' the province isn't 'completely out of the woods yet.' 'We will likely see new wildfire starts, what we call holdover lightning fires,' said Peacock, adding the holdover fires usually take several days to become visible. Residents who were rushed out of their homes by a wildfire near Peachland on Wednesday were allowed to return home. The Central Okanagan Emergency Operations Centre said those at 118 properties were allowed to go home on Friday, a day after residents of about 380 homes were allowed to return. The centre said those in the 118 homes must remain on evacuation alert, although all alerts had been lifted for another 490 properties. The BC Wildfire Service said the blaze near Peachland has been classified as being held and is no longer out of control. The Nanaimo Regional District on Vancouver Island declared a state of local emergency because of wildfire burning on the north banks of Cameron Lake, about 60 kilometres from the City of Nanaimo. Story continues below advertisement Homes on the north side of the lake have been ordered evacuated, while other nearby properties have been put on evacuation alert. The district said 289 properties were put on evacuation alert, while a few dozen were evacuated Thursday. Even more were evacuated late at night, as the regional district expanded an evacuation order in the Little Qualicum River Village area. BC Emergency Alert says a reception centre has been set up in Qualicum Beach, a town 15 kilometres away from Cameron Lake. More than 40 firefighters and helicopters are working on the fire, and Peacock said Highway 4 is still open and unaffected. A wildfire south of Lytton, B.C., has been measured at just over 12-square kilometres in size and an evacuation order issued by the Lytton First Nation remains in place because of the blaze. The wildfire service says the fire is highly visible from Highway 1, and motorists are asked to use extra caution and be aware of their surroundings while passing through. While a cooling trend was coming for the province over the long weekend, Peacock said thunderstorm activity will continue in the North, and they will likely bring dry lightning. Peacock said people who want to get out and enjoy the long weekend are encouraged to check wildfire and driving information before they leave, as the wildfire situation is 'very dynamic, and road conditions can change very quickly.'
