Storms should begin to fire up early this afternoon and last late into the evening. Large hail and damaging wind gust will be the main feature of today's storms.
Yesterday afternoon, storms started extremely strong with two main cells (Lethbridge and Edson) both going purple on radar from the beginning and producing reports of hail the size of golf balls or slightly larger. After initiation, these storms morphed into a linear MCS (mesoscale convective system) producing intense lightning and incredible shelf structure, losing most severe qualities before hitting the city of Edmonton.
REMINDER: When reporting hail to #abstorm #skstorm please use a measuring tape, ruler, coins or golf ball, baseball, softball, etc.. Accuracy in measurement is very important in determining potential damage and risk to future regions. Photos of holding hail in your hands is not acceptable as people have different sized hands. Another common mistake is reporting marble size hail. Marbles also come in various sizes. If it is very small hail, please report as pea size.
***The best way to report is taking a photo with a measuring tape held beside the hail stones***
Here are some tweets of the action in Alberta last night:
Hail at the Oseen residence. Got knocked in the head real good a few times, thankfully it blew over quick! #abstorm pic.twitter.com/cW11nK22wt
— Taylor Oseen (@CTVTaylor) July 20, 2015
Pic of the Golf Ball Size Hail in Lethbridge sent by Daniel Smythe #abstorm pic.twitter.com/gnjEczI4gu
— Brandon Houck (@HouckisPokise) July 20, 2015
— Dayna Vucurevich (@DaynaVucurevich) July 20, 2015
Pano of monster supercell south of Warburg, Alberta #abstorm @PrairieChasers @Washed_Up pic.twitter.com/POBh2IivfX
— Matt Johnson (@MesocyclonicWX) July 21, 2015
Dat Sunset West of Pigeon Lake, Alberta #abstorm 9:51PM @PrairieChasers @TwistedChasers pic.twitter.com/pVqd6HCsoJ
— Braydon Morisseau (@BraydonMoreSo) July 21, 2015
Wow! Take cover #DraytonValley and #Entwistle. Likely wind and hail approaching 8:41pm @MesocyclonicWX #abstorm pic.twitter.com/XYYTRqj3zh
— Prairie StormChasers (@PrairieChasers) July 21, 2015