A severe thunderstorm watch has been issued for Mountain View and Red Deer counties Sunday afternoon along with the urban centres in their geographical areas.
“Thunderstorms will develop this afternoon, some of which may become severe producing very large hail, strong wind gusts and torrential rain,” Environment Climate Change Canada’s Aug. 4 alert states.
A watch is issued when conditions are favourable for the development of severe thunderstorms with one or more of the following conditions:
• wind gusts of 90 kilometres an hour (km/h) or greater, which could cause structural wind damage;
• Hail of two centimetres (cm) or larger in diameter; or
• Heavy rainfall.
“Thunderstorms will move towards the east or southeast through the evening before weakening overnight,” the federal agency said in the alert.
The watch is in effect for:
• Mountain View County near Cremona, Water Valley, Carstairs, Olds, Didsbury and Sundre:
• Red Deer County near Spruce View, Red Lodge Provincial Park, Elnora, Lousana, Delburne, Penhold, Innisfail, Bowden, Pine Lake and Sylvan Lake.
Large hail can damage property and cause injury while strong wind gusts can toss loose objects, damage weak buildings, break branches off trees and overturn large vehicles, the agency noted.
