Severe thunderstorm warning north of Calgary cancelled

A severe thunderstorm warning issued Monday evening has ended for an area north of Calgary. 

Environment Canada initially sent out a warning around 5:30 p.m., saying that a storm system tracking southeast toward Sundre threatened to produce strong winds, heavy rain and hailstones larger than baseballs. 

Devon Healey, the field coordinator for the Northern Hail Project, was following the storm.

“We collected 10 bags full of tennis ball-sized hail,” he said. “There were a couple other members of our team who found some that reached baseball-sized hail.”

The hailstones were recovered south of Caroline, Alta., Healey said. Some of his team members reported crop and tree damage in the area. 

The Northern Hail Project is a Western University unit that studies hail in Canada. The group recently set up a network of hail monitoring devices in Calgary. 

As the Monday evening storm moved east, it weakened substantially.

Shortly before 7 p.m., the severe thunderstorm warning was cancelled. Still, the area remained under a severe thunderstorm watch.