Environment Canada issued a severe thunderstorm watch for most of the province shortly after 1 p.m. Wednesday.
The agency said conditions are favourable for the development of severe thunderstorms Wednesday afternoon and evening. It expects thunderstorms will develop in the afternoon along the foothills and move east.
Click here for the latest regions to be put under watches and warnings.
The main threat “will be hail to the size of loonies, damaging wind gusts in excess of 90 km/h, and rainfall in excess of 50 mm,” Environment Canada’s website explained.
As of 2 p.m., the City of Edmonton, St. Albert, Sherwood Park, Leduc, Camrose, Wetaskiwin, Tofield, Slave Lake, Hinton and Grande Cache were under severe thunderstorm warnings. Those warnings were dropped by 4 p.m. but the areas were still under thunderstorm watches.
Lloydminster, Wainwright, Vermillion, Provost, Kananaskis, Canmore, Nordegg and Forestry Trunk Road Highway 734 were later added to the severe thunderstorm warning list but by 4 p.m., the warnings were dropped for Lloydminster, Wainwright, Vermillion and Provost.
As of 6:30 p.m., the following areas were still under a severe thunderstorm warning:
- Leduc, Camrose, Wetaskiwin, Tofield
- Nordegg, Forestry Trunk Road Highway 734
- Red Deer, Ponoka, Innisfail, Stettler
- Westlock, Barrhead, Athabasca
The storms are expected to weaken in the evening.
READ MORE: Edmonton, Calgary pounded with hail, rain during thunderstorm watches and warnings
On Tuesday, similar warnings and watches were issued and parts of the province were hit with hail and heavy rain.
Roads were flooded, fires were triggered and hail blanketed the ground like snow in some spots when wild weather struck central and southern Alberta.
Basements were drenched and motorists were trapped in their vehicles in southwest Calgary when afternoon thunderstorm activity unleashed heavy rain. Lightning struck trees and sparked fires in two houses, but there were no reports of injuries or significant damage to either home.
People in and around Okotoks and Aldersyde, south of Calgary, had to deal with mounds of hail after the storm passed.
Heavy rain and hail also hit the Edmonton region, creating traffic snarls in a few areas.
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