Hail Storm Causes Damage, Traffic Disruptions Throughout Calgary, Southern Alberta

Travellers manoeuvre around buckets catching leaks as repairs are underway at the Calgary International Airport in Calgary, Alta., on Aug. 6, 2024. Parts of its domestic terminal building were closed due to damage caused by hail and heavy rainfall Aug. 5. (The Canadian Press/Jeff McIntosh)

A powerful storm brought large damaging hail and heavy rain to the Calgary area Aug. 5, inflicting extensive damage on homes, vehicles, and the Calgary International Airport.

Known as Hailstorm Alley, Southern Alberta experienced severe weather later in the day with meteorologists from The Weather Network closely monitoring the region for potential tornado activity.

Although no tornado warnings had to be issued for the area, Environment and Climate Change Canada published a severe thunderstorm warning for Calgary Monday. The advisory predicted the impending thunderstorm could generate strong wind gusts of more than 100 kilometres per hour, large hail, and heavy downpours.

Calgary International Airport sustained damage, forcing travellers at gates B and C to evacuate, the official account for Calgary Airport said in a late-night X post. No injuries were reported, but inbound and outbound flights were delayed.

“We can confirm there has been damage to YYC’s terminal building due to hail and heavy rainfall,” the airport said in a subsequent post. “At this time we are prioritizing the safety of all guests and staff and clearing the impacted areas. We are currently assessing the damage and its impact to operations.”

The airport said while parts of the Domestic Terminal Building will remain closed as work is done to clean up the water and assess the damage, flights remain operational Aug. 6 as operations are “shifted” to other gates.

The stormy weather arrived just on time to make the commute home an interesting one for Calgarians, according to the Weather Network.

Major roadways, including Stoney Trail and Deerfoot Trail, quickly became clogged with vehicles as drivers sheltered under overpasses in every direction, according to evening X posts by the City of Calgary Transportation News. Several photos showed groupings of cars stopped in the north, south, east, and west lanes.

Calgary Police Sgt. Chris Martin was quick to respond with his own post asking drivers to refrain from stopping on city highways.

“Please don’t stop under bridges and overpasses,” he wrote. “You endanger not only every single person trapped behind you, but yourself as well.”

An Environment Canada weather summary published Aug. 6 said Queenstown, a hamlet 92 kilometres southeast of Calgary, endured baseball-sized hail of up to 7.5 centimetres around, while Mossleigh had tennis ball-sized hail.

In Calgary, the hail was the size of a hen’s egg, the summary said, adding that Environment Canada had received “many reports of hail damage ... along with localized flooding” in the city.

Many residents took to social media to post pictures of both the hail and property damage.

The strongest wind was recorded in Tilley, the weather service said, with gusts reaching 100 km/h.