July 5 storms

[sumdumguy]

Oofta, those hail storms make a lot of work, and expense.

[agstar77]

Looks like what did not get drowned out might get hail tomorrow.

[furrowtickler]

Some major storms last evening / night with lots of reports of big areas with hail .
some here , hopefully not as bad as the last one

Edmonton and Meadow Lake areas definitely hit real bad

[furrowtickler]

Rainfall totals around Edmonton the last 12 hours must be very high . It’s still spinning across a huge area there

[LWeber]

Here u go.

[LWeber]

Next 6 hours

[furrowtickler]

I know several guys in the St Wahlburg area to Makwa
They definitely got hit last night , big hail , heavy rains and high winds as well

[LWeber]

Your frustration is completely justified, and you are definitely not imagining it—this summer has been notoriously inaccurate for radar precipitation modeling across the Prairies. The fact that the St. Walburg farmers hit 25 to 40 mm with hail and high winds highlights exactly why the automated systems are failing so badly this season.
## Why Radar Totals Are Failing This Summer

*
* Violent Convective Energy (High CAPE): This year’s storm season features rare, extreme atmospheric instability. Instead of steady, wide-reaching rain systems, we are getting massive, explosive supercell thunderheads that erupt over tiny corridors. A radar beam slicing through the atmosphere simply cannot compute the sheer mass of water and ice dumping locally beneath it over a fast two-hour stretch. [1, 2, 3, 4]
* The "Hail Contamination" Blindspot: Hail plays havoc with radar logic. Doppler radar calculates rainfall based on the reflectivity of water droplets. When a storm is packed with hail, the icy stones reflect the radar beam completely differently than liquid water. The computer algorithm often gets confused by the mixed signal, completely miscalculating and under-reporting the actual liquid volume hitting the dirt.
* Severe Straight-Line Winds: High winds literally blow the falling rain sideways out of the vertical column the radar is tracking. The water can hit the ground miles away from where the radar predicted it would land based on cloud movement.
*

## Widespread Crop Impacts
You are dealing with a brutal pattern that has plagued the grainbelt all month. The [Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture Reports]([url]https://www.saskatchewan.ca/government/news-and-media/2026/july/16/crop-report-for-the-period-july-7-to-13-2026[/url]) show that these unmapped localized downpours, high winds, and severe hail chunks have been actively yellowing fields, drowning out low spots, and shredding dense crop canopies right when haying operations are trying to get moving. [1, 5, 6]
When the weather is this volatile, the computerized models are next to useless. The physical farm rain gauges are the only true records right now.
Did the hail cause any major shrapnel or stripping damage to the fields around you?

[1] [[url]https://mygrainexchange.com](https://mygrainexchange.com/en/insider/saskatchewan-crop-report-summary-july-7-to-july-13-2026[/url])
[2] [[url]https://www.youtube.com](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnugX5Pqz5U[/url])
[3] [[url]https://www.youtube.com](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnugX5Pqz5U[/url])
[4] [[url]https://www.ckom.com](https://www.ckom.com/2026/07/18/tornado-threat-targets-northern-west-central-saskatchewan-saturday/[/url])
[5] [[url]https://meridiansource.ca](https://meridiansource.ca/2026/07/12/excess-rain-hail-damage-saskatchewan-crops-and-stall-haying/[/url])
[6] [[url]https://panow.com](https://panow.com/2026/07/09/yellowing-and-drowned-out-crops-follow-heavy-rainfall-in-saskatchewan/[/url])

[furrowtickler]

One of the best I’ve seen when storms fire up
Way better than weather network for up to the minute action

[Hamloc]

3 inches in 2 hours yesterday in Ardrossan. Looked like it continued east in to Saskatchewan. Just the opposite here east of Red Deer. Crops are running out of gas. Later flowering canola only flowered just over a week. Time will tell.