Freak hailstorms dump tons of ice on New Mexico and Alberta, Canada

July 6, 2013 – NEW MEXICO – A storm dumped inches of hail on Santa Rosa Wednesday evening leaving a lot of ice and damage in its wake. The storm, which moved in from San Miguel County, lasted for about an hour. Thursday morning, Santa Rosa still looked like a winter wonderland from the air. Ice blanketed the streets, parks and rooftops on the Fourth of July, the morning after the storm that dumped 3-6 inches of nickel- to golf-ball-sized hail that accumulated to feet in depth in some places. “It’s funny to see the people at Park Lake all in shorts and stuff and swimming trunks, and in the snow, it seems like,” Horacio Lopez said. Santa Rosa’s fire chief said while he appreciates the moisture during the long-running drought, the storm caused dangerous conditions on roadways. “Some people I talked to were stuck for five to six hours,” Chief Gilbert Romero said. “It’s just really bad, something I’ve never seen in my 50 years of life. I’ve never seen anything like this.” Some of the original stained glass windows, dating back about 100 years, at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church were damaged by the hail. Resulting water damage also forced businesses to close including the Family Dollar as people continued to shovel hail off of roofs. “We’ve just spent the morning here trying to assess our damage,” Mario Trujillo, the owner of the Sun & Sand Restaurant, said. “Just looking at town, it’s just incredible. We’ve heard of carports falling.” Roberta Blea didn’t realize her carport had fallen on all three of her family’s cars until after the storm passed. She said the falling hail was so loud, they couldn’t hear the carport collapsing. “I looked out and it was just raining hail,” Blea told KRQE News 13. “I had never seen that happen. I just never even expected this much destruction. It’s devastating.” Forecasters with the National Weather Service said these types of hail storms aren’t uncommon, but that it’s rare for this to happen before monsoon season starts. –KRQE

TABER, ALBERTA: “There’s still hail sitting around now and it’s like what, noon?” said Gaylene Whitley, surveying her lawn. “It’s still sitting around. It came down in buckets.” For Taber residents, waking up to snow on the lawn is normal in the spring. But waking to snowdrifts in July has the town speechless. Friday evening, large thunderstorms rolled into Taber, with hail covering streets, lawns and sidewalks. Ice pellets blocked storm sewers, flooding residential streets and sending some vehicles floating in the water. “In some spots in town I bet you there was two feet of water on the road. It was a lot of water and hail,” said Taber resident Cody Cook. Taber RCMP say there were no reports of anyone injured, or any major damage to property during the storm. Residents are left with lawns full of mud and leaves, and of course, piles of snow. But five blocks away from these homes, there’s no evidence of a storm at all. Residents in the North end of Taber seem to have been hit the hardest. One home owner said his roof is newly re-shingled, but that didn’t stop the water from coming in. “There’s water pouring in my parent’s house. Through the roof, through the walls, through the light fixtures,” said Cook. Residents say in some areas, water came up to car bumpers. Vehicles stalled trying to break through the hail filled streets, which are now filled with people from the South end of town catching a glimpse of the destruction five minutes away. All streets in Taber are now clear of water, as well as tree branches broken in the storm. –Global News