A funnel cloud photographed over Calgary at around 1 p.m. on Wednesday, July 22, 2015.Stefan Keyes
There were funnel clouds and gusting winds and warnings that Calgary was about to be hit by a tornado.
Luckily, after two harrowing hours Wednesday, civic officials and meteorologists called off the tornado warning as the storm passed over Calgary.
From the downtown core to the city's southeast quadrant, people watched the clouds moving in at an estimated 30 kilometres an hour. There was rain and a heavy hail storm that fired down bits of ice the size of a golf ball.
In the Lake Bonavista suburb, home residents took in their outdoor lawn furniture and put their vehicles in the garage. The hail came down in bursts, hitting houses and parked cars, only to end quickly and move on.
Soon after that, the storm blew by and the tornado warning was lifted.
Instead, Emergency Alberta Alert issued a new warning saying a severe thunderstorm was occurring 20 km west of Dorothy and moving east at 70 km/h. The Alert added: "The storm has produced winds in excess of 130 km/h, tennis ball-sized hail and has the potential to produce tornadoes."
Calgary came to a virtual stop as the funnel clouds approach. Downtown workers stayed in their offices; cars were kept off the road; emergency rescue teams were ready to jump into the action. Fortunately, no one was hurt and even the hail storm could have been a lot more damaging.
Calgarians posted several photos and videos of the funnel cloud as it moved across the city.
Pretty storm/shelf east of Crossfield. #abstorm 1237pm pic.twitter.com/Bkk03zqyD7
— Beth Allan (@adolwyn) July 22, 2015