Building heat, hail risk take centre stage in Alberta for Canada Day
Building heat across Alberta will give way for widespread thunderstorms on Tuesday that could come with damaging hail
Are you ready for a booming Canada Day, Alberta? It's not just fireworks that will be making a bang in the sky, as forecasters watch for isolated thunderstorms to pop up across the province on Tuesday.
Be sure to keep an eye on the radar and local weather alerts throughout the day to make sure you don't get caught in the stormy weather during celebrations.
Rising temperatures across the province have prompted Environment and Climate Change Canada to begin issuing heat warnings in southern parts of the province on Monday morning, including Calgary.
The heat will continue to build throughout Tuesday, which will likely result in the heat warnings expanding.
With the building heat also comes building thunderstorm energy in the atmosphere, however. This will help fuel a risk of isolated thunderstorms, which could interrupt some Canada Day celebrations.
While the storms are expected to stay non-severe, we could see some reach the severe criteria in central and southern Alberta, including Edmonton and Calgary. The biggest risks from any severe storms that pop up will be the sudden gusty winds and large hail, both of which could cause damage to any outdoor events.
Wednesday to feel like Tuesday 2.0
Tuesday's storms won't be enough to dispel the heat, either, as we will see the heat continue to crank up and reach its peak on Wednesday. Parts of southern Alberta could see temperatures run 5-10 degrees above seasonal.
The thunderstorm energy and instability in the atmosphere will also continue to build with the heat on Wednesday, once again fuelling a risk of thunderstorms across the province.
This round of storms will likely be even more widespread than Tuesday's, with a better chance for thunderstorms to become severe.
Large, damaging hail will again be the main risk we're looking at with these storms.
Stay with The Weather Network for more information and updates on your weather across Alberta.