Alberta Braces for June Hail

Lashing winds in Northern and Southern Alberta. Periods of heavy rain in Central Alberta. Large jumps in temperatures throughout the province. The last 7-10 days of May indicate hail could be headed the way of the Wild Rose province in June.

What Causes Hail?

Weather.com cites a combo of fast moving air upwards (updrafts) and downwards (downdrafts), where the air going up is a mixture of vapor and rain that eventually hits a freezing temperature. The super-cooled molecules condense, forming an ice particle. Due to the force of the updraft, the particle will remain lofted in a thunderstorm until it's large enough in size to overcome the force of gravity, which causes it to fall from the sky.

In order to produce dime-sized hail, an updraft would need to be at least 60km/h. For golfball-sized hail, the updraft would need to be at least 90km/h. Baseball-sized hail would require an updraft of at least 160km/h.

Alberta Farmers Adding Hail Coverage

Jesse Cole, Research Analyst at Agriculture Financial Services Corporation (AFSC), said there has been a 90% increase on hail coverage additions among their Alberta policyholders this spring.

‘’There’s a high correlation between precipitation and hail,’’ Cole said. ‘’We had a pretty wet year, so this year we’re expecting another year where there’s a quite a bit. Somewhere in the province, it’s hailing.’’

Even though the hail coverage getting purchased – in this instance – has to do with crops and farms, it’s still telling that such a large number of Albertans are embracing for hail.

Home & Auto Hail Coverage in Alberta

If you’re wondering if you can get hail coverage on your home and auto insurance policies, the answer is YES!

However, it’s not a guarantee to be included on your home or auto policy. If you have it, that’s great. If you want to see how adding it to your policy will affect your premiums, that’s also a smart thing to do.

We hope you never need to activate your insurance policy. In the unfortunate event that you do, we want you to be as covered as you need to be.

In the mean time, here’s hoping the four letter h-word stays the hail away!