NASA / AQUA / MODIS
The lighter track in this satellite image is a “scar” left by the extreme hailstorm that hit the soil with giant ice balls in the Alberta region, Canada
A satellite photograph collected by NASA in August shows the brutal consequences of a devastating hailstorm that hit Alberta, Canada. The phenomenon destroyed properties, knocked down poles and killed at least two animals.
A hailstorm that struck the soil with pieces of ice -size ice balls in Alberta, Canada, escaped a gigantic “scar” in the landscape, with about half 200 km long.
The extreme phenomenon killed at least two animals.
According to NASA, on August 20, a day that had been calm until then, a stormy originated in a region located in southern Alberta, after the arrival of a “supercélula“A rare type of thunderstorm containing a deep and persistent rotary ascending current.
Although the storm has produced few lightnings, it triggered a huge hailstorm and strong windswhich caused widespread damage to homes, vehicles and infrastructure.
Some of the hail stones have reached a 5 centimeter diameterand the associated winds reached speeds Superiors of 120 km / hthe equivalent of a category 1 hurricane, according to.
Beyond damagethe gigantic ice balls that fell hammered the ground and destroyed the vegetation. The result was a scar with about 200 kilometers long and 15 km widewhich was recorded in the landscape, and which was clearly Visible of the Space.
The most affected area It was around Brooks, a small town located about 160 km southeast of Calgary, visible in the upper left corner of the satellite image.
The combination of hail of extraordinary dimensions and strong winds damaged houses and vehicles, and Destroyed electric poles nearby, some of which were folded at an angle of almost 90 degreescounts a.
“The whole front of the house is destroyed,” he told CBC Colleen Foisyresident of Brooks. “The front sealing was literally torn from the posts of cement. My flowers in the garden were thrown everywhere, branches of the trees. There is hail damage throughout my truck that only has a year. The canvas of my boat was in rags. ”
Although this particular event was extreme, Not unusual that this type of storms appear in this region of Alberta, which is often nicknamed “hailstorm corridor“, Note or.
According to the experts of the NASA Earth Observatory, the climate and geography of the region are conducive to the development of storms, and the area typically records dozens of hail events every year.
According to a recent report by the magazine, in the last five years, the damage caused by hailstorms in Alberta has caused damage of more than 6 billion Canadian dollars, about 3.7 billion euros. This value does not include the damage of the August Storm, which are still calculating.
