As any Albertan knows, we live in a region where hail storms are a natural occurrence that can wreak havoc on your house, your boat and more importantly, YOUR CAR!
We live in an area that is said to be one of the worst in the WORLD for hail damage. One hail storm can produce roughly $500 million worth in damage.
There is no worse feeling than seeing the skies open in the middle of summer and that sheer panic that comes over you to find a safe haven for your vehicle to avoid the destruction of golf ball sized hail. Luckily for us, there has been an initiative taken by The Alberta Severe Weather Management Society (ASWMS) in order to help mitigate the the amount of hail that is produced in any given storm.
The ASWMS has come up with a solution know as the Alberta Hail Suppression Project. This Project utilizes planes that fly straight into small storm clouds and “seed” these clouds with a special solution before they have a chance to grow into larger storm clouds. In doing so, this will inhibit the smaller clouds from maturing into thunderstorms which will later produce larger pellets of hail. Instead, the large hail is turned into either normal precipitation like rain, or smaller less destructive pellets comparable to snow. The solution used to seed the clouds is called silver iodide. This solution is used in a NON-TOXIC dosage so that it does not have any harmful effects on the environment.
Since it’s inception in 1996 this initiative has reduced the destruction caused by hail by 50%!
Now what does this mean for car enthusiasts like you and I?
I’m sure everyone has experienced or knows someone who’s gone through the experience of dealing with hail damage on their car. Between the high prices for repairs and the difficulty of dealing with insurance companies to repair it, it’s never an ideal situation to be in. Not to mention it leaves your most prized possession looking like a crumpled up beer can.
This initiative has given car lovers the confidence to take that long highway drive in the dead of summer without worrying about a hail storm. I don’t know about you, but when I’m cruising down the highway, I prefer to enjoy the ride instead of huddling under an overpass waiting for the sky to clear up.
Enjoy the drive. Forget about the sky!
