The Ongoing Super Mega Weather Thread v3

[Sainters7]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

When you see numbers like 12+, and heading right at you… that when it’s time to cover things up.

Ughhh, of course its looking like it's going to hit the deep S.E., what else is new...I wanna bail on this Sundance BBQ so bad

[MillerTime GFG]

Originally Posted by Sainters7

Ughhh, of course its looking like it's going to hit the deep S.E., what else is new...I wanna bail on this Sundance BBQ so bad

No one knows that accurately where storms will hit. Could be fine in the SE, could be f'd.

[Sainters7]

Yeah true. I just lived there from 2017-2021 and I find it tends to be ground zero for Calgary-related storms (hail anyway). But yeah we'll see how she all shakes out, I can't bail anyway

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Sainters7

Yeah true. I just lived there from 2017-2021 and I find it tends to be ground zero for Calgary-related storms (hail anyway). But yeah we'll see how she all shakes out, I can't bail anyway

I feel like that's the NE for sure. The north and Airdrie seem to get rocked fairly consistently.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

As someone who has never had a write-off before, are you saying they don’t even give you the value of the vehicle? Like, if my truck gets completely thrashed, I’m not even going to be able to afford the same make/model?

They use auto trader and Facebook/kijiji postings to determine the value of your vehicle. They even include the ads they use to set the price in their offer. You can then research and ask for more if you think it’s a bad offer. My experience with 2 recent write offs anyway.

If you have a rare vehicle it’s obviously harder to determine real value.

[Sainters7]

Originally Posted by Slava

I feel like that's the NE for sure. The north and Airdrie seem to get rocked fairly consistently.

Ahh yeah, I've been in the south since 91 when I was a kid, I don't know the north very well anymore. I think it's just the east in general

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Slava

I feel like that's the NE for sure. The north and Airdrie seem to get rocked fairly consistently.

Yeah, thats usually my experience too. A few years back my sister-in-law's place in Airdrie looked like it was involved in a Drive-By in Compton.

[mrkajz44]

So move the kids car seats to the hail damaged car for our outing this evening? The forecast of +3 says walnut size hail...

[OutOfTheCube]

Originally Posted by Slava

I feel like that's the NE for sure. The north and Airdrie seem to get rocked fairly consistently.

I don't think Airdrie sees the big ones quite as consistently. When I moved from NE Calgary to Airdrie my car insurance went down a combined $150 / month.

I remember the June 2020 storm, watching that cell grow to I think over 13 in a matter of minutes and right above us. Knew we were in trouble, lol.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by MillerTime GFG

Keep this tab open on your phone: https://wmiradar.com/ahsp/index.php?...comp&length=10

It will tell you how big/intense the storm is based on colour of precipitation + cloud height, and what direction it’s heading.

How do you read this one though? Like what tells you if it's hail and when it's going to hit? I usually just use the weather network radar.

Anyway, I did what I could - a couple of old blankets, and a car cover on top. I'm not super confident the wind won't just blow it off but it's what I had.

[Swift]

Well, the Weather Network radar says the entire south of the city is gonna get walloped around 3:30.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by Swift

Well, the Weather Network radar says the entire south of the city is gonna get walloped around 3:30.

The problem I find with the Weather Network radar "forecast" is it simply takes the last available reading on intensity and direction, and just keeps moving that snapshot along for the next few hours.

It doesn't factor in new storms popping up (as they always do), other storms fizzling out, changes in direction and intensity, etc.

Last night, for example, got really severe really fast - nothing in the afternoon would've drawn that path or intensity because it didn't exist yet.

WMI Radar is great because it gives you some great information like the height of the cells, and whether cloud seeding planes are up (if they are seeding a cell, then it has a better chance of producing hail).

Very tall cell? Seeding planes up? Heading your way? Say a small prayer for your garden, roof, and vehicle.

[MillerTime GFG]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

How do you read this one though? Like what tells you if it's hail and when it's going to hit? I usually just use the weather network radar.

Anyway, I did what I could - a couple of old blankets, and a car cover on top. I'm not super confident the wind won't just blow it off but it's what I had.

Typically if the clouds are above ~11,000 feet (which would show as "11.0" on the storm), it could have hail. The higher the cloud top, the larger the hail could be. I think the highest I've seen is around 20k feet? There's also a legend on the radar that shows what each colour represents for intensity of precipitation. Basically the brighter it is, the more intense the rain.
EDIT: lower cloud heights could contain hail as well, but 11,000 is where I start to really pay attention.

You can also see if there are plane seeders on the storm, which would further indicate hail potential, and the red circles will show direction of storm within the next 10, 20, 30 minutes.

[Bigtime]

Also worth noting on the WMI page that the cloud seeder aircraft registrations are the alphanumeric codes on the bottom right of the display. You can then load up a site like ADS-B exchange and watch their flight paths in real time here:

https://globe.adsbexchange.com/

For example "111V" has just taken off from Springbank.

[surferguy]

As an example - last nights storm went from nothing around Westbrook mall to a 11 tower by the time it hit DT. I think the cell heights start to register around 5

[PepsiFree]

How do you tell how high the clouds are?

And why aren’t there any red circles when we know a storm’s a comin?

I just want to know when I should try to squeeze the vehicle into the garage.

[surferguy]

When the storm is booming over you check back on the radar and the information will be updated

[MillerTime GFG]

If you look at the radar now, there's a cell that has formed West of the city. It has 3 red circles, which show where it's anticipated to go within the next 10, 20, 30 minutes. It also has a cloud height of over 9,000, so this is one to keep an eye on as it's building quickly. Looks like it's coming to yyc.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by mrkajz44

So move the kids car seats to the hail damaged car for our outing this evening? The forecast of +3 says walnut size hail...

Are you trying to get the car and car seats written off or something? Why would you move the seats specifically?

Originally Posted by surferguy

When the storm is booming over you check back on the radar and the information will be updated

Well, typically I guess you could look up. But that might not be advisable if there's golf ball sized hail falling down around you.

[Bigtime]

I believe the cloud height numbers are in km's. I went and looked at that cell to the west and no way it is at 9,900' right now. 9.9km for ~32,000' makes more sense.