Saskatchewan proudly calls itself the Land of the Living Skies — the epithet that won the 1997 Tourism Saskatchewan license plate slogan contest. As data continues to be gathered to officially declare summer 2021 the worst drought on record, the ‘living skies’ opened over southern portions of the province on the final day of August, pummelling areas with damaging hail, high winds and rain.

“While Regina is reporting a large number, at least 34 communities have been involved in this event. Assiniboia, Moose Jaw, Regina, Yorkton, all stand out and even Prince Albert where it circled back on the tail end,” reported Andrew Voroney, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of SGI CANADA.

The sky let loose hail and rain, doing the most damage to the north-west portion of Regina, leading to localized flooding, property, and vehicle damage and over five hours with no power in some areas. Gusts of wind over 93 kilometres per hour were recorded, a 100-year-old barn was destroyed near Moose Jaw; the supercell led to claims for thousands, including customers that still have open property damage claims open from hailstorms in 2020.

The most recent storm, in addition to multiple large storms in July — has made for a costly storm season. At the time of the interview, Voroney explained that SGI had 7,539 auto clams reported and 1,360 property claims, but claims were coming in slowly.

Voroney elaborated on why claims weren’t coming in as quickly as with some other weather events, “Given the preliminary reports we know the impacted numbers are large, but claims are coming in more slowly than for example a large wind event. In general, we’re looking at cosmetic damage, so the urgency is less. People are taking their time to clean up the leaves and maybe haven’t even noticed their facia is dented, or that their siding has a few holes. As homeowners get a chance to assess the situation and potential costs, we expect to see claims come in, perhaps for several months.”

Saskatchewan Mutual Insurance hoped it has seen the end of storm season, “As we approached the end of August, our fingers were crossed that we had seen the end of the major storm season, however, Mother Nature had different plans. On August 31, a storm crashed its way through southern Saskatchewan, pelting anything in its way with pea to golf ball sized hail. As of September 9, SMI had received a total of 49 property related claims due to this event in areas including Regina, Moose Jaw, Assiniboia, and Yorkton. We do anticipate that this event will be significant but until our adjusters are able to inspect all of the properties for damage, we won’t know 100%. We are extremely proud of our claims team and the quick turnaround times from notice of claim to being on-site to inspect the physical damage.”

Saskatchewan is no stranger to late summer storms; it is after all the record holder for the largest hailstone to ever fall in Canada. A storm in Cedoux in 1973 measured a single piece of hail at 290 grams and 114 millimeters in diameter (the width of a popsicle stick, for the more visually inclined readers).

Environment Canada data also shows that the prairies are exceptionally vulnerable to hail, receiving more severe hail events and more damage to crops and personal property from hail than from all other summer severe weather events combined, including tornadoes, severe thunderstorm winds and heavy rains. While Saskatchewan certainly experiences its fair share of chunks of ice falling from the sky, we aren’t as bad off as our neighbours in Alberta, which has played host to two-thirds of Canada’s major documented hailstorms.

The largest weather event in Canada history was the very memorable Calgary storm which was the costliest hailstorm in history causing over $1.3 billion dollars in insured damages. Prior to that record setting event, the most expensive hail event in Canada also occurred in Calgary, in 1991. According to CatIQ data, of the 10 most costly natural disasters in Canadian history, six took place in Alberta. In fact, hail is so common in south and central Alberta that the area has been dubbed ‘Hailstorm Alley’.

According to the Saskatchewan Flood and Natural Hazard Risk Assessment Prepared for Saskatchewan Ministry of Government, the greatest monetary loss from convective storms is from hail, which damages personal and auto property, the agricultural sector and can lead to loss of income. It is estimated that three to four per-cent of prairie grain crops are destroyed or damaged each year by hail.

For the insurance industry and policy holders alike, the seemingly sudden and without-warning appearance of hail is nerve-racking. Hail is unpredictable to locate in the actual zone of influence and there is no clear distinction between storm that do and do not produce hailstones. Three basic factors are needed to produce hail: adequate updraft to keep the hailstone aloft for an appropriate amount of time; sufficient supercooled water near the hailstone to enable growth as it travels through an updraft; and a piece of ice, snow or dust for it to grow upon.

“Hail is directional, sporadic, different sizes and has various levels of impact. We often find one house or street can be pulverized and the neighbouring house or street has no damage,” explained Brennen Mills of Saskatoon Fire and Flood.

In 2018 the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction’s (ICLR) released Hail climatology for Canada: An update. The report was written by David Etkin, Associate Professor of Disaster Management at York University. The paper serves as an update to Etkin’s Canada’s Hail Climatology: 1977-1993. Although national hail climatologies cannot be used to determine hailstorm severity or to infer damage, it is used to help identify vulnerable regions and areas where mitigation efforts should be concentrated. Etkin warned in the update that further hail research would be constrained by the lack of ongoing hail observations by Environment Canada. The report states that after 1993, the number of hail observing stations began to decline and after 2005 the number of stations reporting hail dropped precipitously. After 2007, the number of observation stations was trivial. This means that other datasets have to be used, such as those created by radar and satellite imagery.

There are organizations in North America with ongoing projects to develop technology to improve forecasting of hail, some scientists are even using artificial intelligence akin to facial recognition to predict the size of hailstorms. The tech and development are fascinating, but that isn’t helping Saskatchewan residents quit yet. In a hail awareness campaign IBC ran earlier this year, home and business owners were educated on hail preparedness.

• Be prepared —watch for weather warnings. Saskatchewan residents are encouraged to download the SaskAlert app.
• Get property ready for severe weather, including installation of sump pumps and backflow valves on homes.
• Consider resilient building materials when completing repairs
• Everyone’s priority must be their own safety, and the safety of their loved ones and neighbours.