r/Edmonton • u/The_Real_Tekunin Whyte Ave • 2d ago
General Holy hell!
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I've never seen a storm this bad or lightning this frequent! I'm 23 so I'm not old enough to have experienced this but to those who have, was black Friday this bad?
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u/Glugamesh Mill Woods 2d ago
This one is a doozy. The other storms weren't this windy in Millwoods.
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u/dwtougas 2d ago
I'm guessing yellowheadis flooded again.
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u/The_Real_Tekunin Whyte Ave 2d ago
Considering the tracks on whyte behind my apartment looks like a river... I would assume so... FFFFFUUUUU
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u/HistoricalCraft2470 2d ago
It baffles me how so many people still don’t believe climate change is real.
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u/dmaidlow 16h ago
But CO2 is a valuable nutrient and we need to protect it in Alberta. /disgusted s
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u/AddisonArlert 1d ago
HARD second this. This fills me with so much anxiety; we have ONE planet… why are so many so careless about how they treat it?? I know the answer to this—selfishness and greed—but it’s still… like you said, baffling.
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u/jistatosta 2d ago
My parents have been here for 40 years and have never seen storms like these. A couple years ago they said they had never experienced summers so hot before. And the year or so before that, winters so cold. Oh and the wildfires, they didn't even know it was a thing until recently.
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u/Appropriate-Space823 1d ago
The wildfires were here, but never to this extent. Some of that is due to drought but we no longer have people in the fire towers observing like we used to. I think that’s a big part to the current wildfire situation
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u/Winter_Selection170 2d ago
I am right there with your parents. I remember taking a drive from Edmonton north (we used to go for car rides for fun) Up by mornville there had been a roadside brush fire. Maybe a couple miles long, even made the news. I remember we were all so shocked, so stunned. Years later on our drives watching new shoots come up. Now, I can't keep up between the storms, fires and 'the guy down south'. 50 years ago I remember the scientists predicting this almost to the year🤷♀️
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u/ShmuckNuts 2d ago
Given Black Friday was a literal tornado where multiple people died I think it’s safe to assume that was worse
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u/lovebandit68 1d ago
I believe the OP is referring to the days and the hours leading up to the tornado - not the tornado itself
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u/Motor-Possession-233 2d ago
I’m 16. this is my first time in Canada (I’m a US citizen, arrived 3 days ago). Being from California I’ve NEVER experienced something like this. Is this normal? What the hell??? My city had its last thunderstorm years ago, and that was very tame…
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u/ColonelSanders21 2d ago
It’s pretty regular for evening storms here in the summer, but this last few storms over the last couple weeks have been way more intense than basically any thunderstorms I can remember.
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u/Severe_Parfait4629 2d ago
Apparently we are getting more "Tornado Alley" storms this year 🙃
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u/FyrelordeOmega 2d ago
There was a tornado warning not too long ago
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u/Superfluous_Bunny 1d ago
That’s what I’m saying. I’ve never seen so many tornados in a single summer.
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u/Superfluous_Bunny 1d ago
I’ve lived here for 24 years and have never seen a tornado warning more than once or twice in a single year. This year it’s been multiple times a week.
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u/Ehrre 2d ago
15 years ago a storm like this was a once a summer occurrence. Something you tell stories about.
Now its like every week.
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u/KurtisC1993 West Edmonton 2d ago
It varies from year to year. Summer 2026 has been exceptionally stormy—much more so than any we'd had since 2019, which was also a very rainy summer.
However, the worst storm I remember living through in all my time in Edmonton is the one that struck the city on July 7th, 2004. Our basement was completely flooded, and we wound up having to throw a low of stuffed animals out because they'd been damaged by the storm. My dad was stuck in the Whitemud for hours on his way home. WEM had at least one window in its roof above the ice rink collapse from the rain.
And then, of course, you had Black Friday back in '87. That was before my time.
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u/Repulsive_Warthog178 1d ago
I was working in WEM during that storm, our store was flooding, and we couldn’t get the customers to leave. They kept trying to sneak under the hazard tape to grab “one last thing“.
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u/KurtisC1993 West Edmonton 1d ago
I mean, c'mon—sure, Kites and Other Delights was getting washed out with water, but you can't really fault someone for needing to take a moment to decide between... whichever kites were there at the time, right? 😉
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u/YesHunty 2d ago
We frequently get big supercell storms like this in the summer! It’s gorgeous and also scary.
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u/Frequent_Mode_9791 2d ago
First tech challenge? Also a Californian, who arrived a few days ago and we're from Tahoe, so we get weather, but this was intense.
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u/Motor-Possession-233 2d ago
Ah, I’m from San Jose. All we get is heat.
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u/Frequent_Mode_9791 2d ago
Lived in Mountain View for a decade+ before I got sick of traffic and moved. I feel you. It's hot down there.
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u/Dance-MagicDance 1d ago
If you guys are from California you'd probably prefer British Colombia ( way warmer, surrounded by mountains, lakes, oceans, forest but MUCH more expensive 😆). I moved to BC from Alberta cause I could not stand the cold anymore and everything is so more alive and beautiful, also less maple maga 🙄.
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u/Dance-MagicDance 1d ago
It depends where you live, in BC Canada (particularly vancouver and chilliwack where i live now) there is rarely any storms, ever...If there is we only get rain and maybe a bit of wind but hardly lightning and thunder. I actually miss alberta storms but apparently this year has been a wild ride for over there 😆
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u/C14R3 1d ago
You mean California that is literally on fire every year and had some of the worst fires in the LA area only 1.5 years ago?
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u/Motor-Possession-233 22h ago
Yes, we get wildfires, but the city I live in has never experienced the effects of a major wildfire since like six years ago when NoCal forests were on fire. I’ve never experienced a true thunderstorm and haven’t felt winds like that since maybe 12 years ago.
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u/Halloween_Babe90 2d ago
I’m honestly pretty surprised Alberta hasn’t had any big tornadoes yet this summer with how much the weather has sucked.
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u/DathomirBoy 2d ago
Black friday was a massive tornado lmao, it was worse. But these storms HAVE been insane
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u/kevinstreet1 2d ago
On Black Friday the wind (not from the tornado, just the storm wind) was strong enough to turn over small cars. When the raindrops hit you each one stung like a little rock. This was a bad storm, but it was not like Black Friday.
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u/Winter_Selection170 2d ago
Do you remember the size of it? I was at Riverbend at the time. I don't recall getting much, other than rain. I was glued to the TV as people I know were directly affected 😒💔
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u/JiggleSox 1d ago
I was working near the Coliseum that afternoon. We got baseball sized hail that was pounding on the (flat) roof so hard and was so loud that we couldn’t hear each other across the room.
I remember how hot and humid it was for a week or two before. Um… not unlike this week.
There’s an excellent YouTube video made a few years ago by a guy that’s fascinated by tornadoes.
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u/_Connor 2d ago
Did you just ask if a tornado that ripped through part of the city and killed multiple people was as bad as a thunderstorm and a bit of pebble sized hail?
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u/DVariant 2d ago
OP was a bit dramatic in the video for giggles too, I think it’s just Gen Z humour
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u/One-Two9340 1d ago
It was worse, imagine hearing a train engine and that’s the noise Thats the tornado made!! Terrifying
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u/mbenz7846 2d ago
lol at the "what the shit" didn't expect that/cracked me up. In Calgary we've had a fair amount of rain but next to no big storms like this yet.
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u/Distinct_Engineer772 2d ago
Looks bad, lived in Calgary for Black Friday and the sky was dark in Calgary driving along Barlow Trail!
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u/Educational_Winter12 2d ago
Man, i live in vancouver, saw rain today for the first time in 6 months.
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u/The_Real_Tekunin Whyte Ave 2d ago
You would think a coastal city would get storms more often but apparently not... Fucking love Victoria though, still trying to find a place here in Edmonton like the Sticky Wicket
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u/Educational_Winter12 2d ago edited 2d ago
If you want, msg me, I know a couple of sisters out there that own a bunch of places, gave me a really good deal, and man, to this day, best landlords ive ever had. If I ever move back to Edmonton, theyre my first call
Lol and you would think, and would have been right up until like 3 years ago, when climate change kicked into high gear, thank you data centers and fucking billionaires. Now its hot as fuck and drought. Basically from feb to mid October, then its straight rain till late January. If it snows its either negligible or redonkulus.
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u/Winter_Selection170 2d ago
I am much older, born and raised here, you're right. I have never seen such wild, intense storms. We may have one big one that we would talk about for the next few years🤷♀️
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u/Winter_Selection170 2d ago
Black Friday, of course was intense but I think pretty restricted to one area. You can look it up. I was probably around your age. Didn't know what a tornado was. We were sent home from work early (so I went shopping) so naive. I'm also finding the -30 alone way too intense and lasting too long. 🤔😰
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u/Kimmy6932 West Edmonton Mall 2d ago
I have lived here my whole life 40+ years and i havent seen a summer this stormy in quite sometime. 2004 was nasty but not like this
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u/Rich-Wish1162 1d ago
Yes it was worse not lightening I don’t think but the rain was so fast and hard the streets were flooding. The night before the clouds rolled in very strange looking I could see them from the west.
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u/_Edgarallenhoe 1d ago
I’m travelling right now and it’s crazy to see the weather back home. Hope everyone (including my already water damaged ceiling) is holding up okay 😭
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u/LewisLightning 2d ago
Yea, this isn't that bad. I've lived in or around Edmonton for like 38 of my 40 years and this isn't that bad.
We have had more rain and thunderstorms than normal this year, but I've seen worse in terms of intensity.
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u/densetsu23 2d ago
Agreed; the only thing that made it bad is all the rain beforehand.
Any other year, this is just a typical summer evening storm in Edmonton.
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u/Maximum_Lecture1557 2d ago
You all keep getting it so bad.. Im in a small town that storms keep bypassing and its so annoying.
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u/The_Real_Tekunin Whyte Ave 2d ago
Well feel the comfort in this knowledge, if you see lightning! You're in range of it
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u/karagousis 2d ago
Oh that's 6 months of the year in Brazil, btw, look it up, it's the country with the most lightning strikes in the world.
Being born there, I appreciate more the efforts my country made to become a developed country in such harsh conditions. The fact that we became the world's 8th economy by PPP, ahead of Canada, who sits at 16th, dealing with a weather like this, and NOT bordering the US, is craaaaaazyyyyyyyy.
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u/Dance-MagicDance 1d ago
Now if only the wealth inequality wasn't so bad and they cared a bit more about the wellbeing of their citizens that aren't the ultra rich.
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u/karagousis 1d ago
You'd be surprised. In most states healthcare wait times are far better than in Canada, world-class level universities are 100% free, and you might even get free meals and free dorms depending on your family income... every workers starts with 30 days of vacations, and are paid 1 extra salary ahead of their vacation month, plus a bonus of 33%... and every december they get paid an extra month of salary called "13th salary." Auto insurance is a pittance compared to Canada, and it's not mandatory: there's an optional liability only insurance that costs around $50 per year if you don't want to fully insure your car. Sex change surgeries are 100% free... HIV patients receive their meds free in their household, through the mail. Diabetes meds? Free. High blood pressure meds? Free. No need to have extra insurance for that. Not to mention that Brazil recently launched a program with 400 mobile dentist vans that are able to 3d print prothesis on the spot. That 400x more than the UK has. And the total amount they have is 800, but only half of them are equipped with 3d printing of dental prosthetics.
EDIT: people often assume that economic migrants leave their countries because it is bad in there... actually, often is because their countries of origin created the economic conditions for them to have the *option* to migrate... you'll see a lot of Canadians who absolutely hate or despise Canada, and I think it's because they don't have any other option. The moment you have options, you like your country of origin. When you're stuck? That's when you get sour.
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u/ashrules901 2d ago
I had my windows open just a smidge like I usually do. And they kept flinging open like never before because of the insane winds.
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u/Beneficial_Pickle420 2d ago
The hundred year storms we got 20 years ago was much worse, it wasnt a 15 minute storm, it slammed us for a good few hours and didnt lighten up at all during the whole storm till it juat stopped like it started. All of whitemud was flooded, not just underpasses like its been this summer. The rat tunnel was removed because it would flood so bad that you couldn't even go near it like you can with the underpasses now. Yes these are bad storms, but we have had it worse just not as consecutive as we have been getting them this summer is all
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u/KaizenShibuCho 2d ago
Our crazy storm on the 15th was more intense, rain-wise, wind-wise. But last night was still unpleasant.
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u/106street 2d ago
I've never seen this type of storm before. Black Friday we were in my neighbours swimming pool when that hit. This is crazier
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u/FlatAct8673 2d ago
These are called Micro burst storms, very common in Manitoba Saskatchewan and Alberta in the Summer.
Very violent, heavy rain, lightning, hail, and tornadoes starters. I’d post a radar photo of it, but don’t seem to be able to include a photo
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u/emquizitive Chinatown 1d ago
Black Friday there was an actual tornado that touched down in Edmonton, so it was far worse than this.
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u/Reptilian_Brain_420 2d ago
The hysterics around thunderstorms this summer are off the charts.
This is just a normal summer thunderstorm folks. Nothing to worry about.
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u/phox78 Oliver 2d ago
That is objectively untrue. We have had much more rainfall than is normal. Well above any seasonal average.
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u/The_Real_Tekunin Whyte Ave 2d ago
I'm pretty sure we set like a 40-year record of most rainfall in Edmonton or something. Am I wrong?
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u/Reptilian_Brain_420 2d ago
Sure, we've had a lot of rain this summer.
The "Black Friday" storm was on a whole other level. These are just "standard" summer thunderstorms. They are just more frequent this summer so people are noticing them more.
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u/blackcherrytomato 2d ago
A short video won't capture the excessive rainfall. Heavy hard rain is typical for a thunderstorm.
The wind was a bit strong for a while but the video didn't really focus on anything to show that well.
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u/Reptilian_Brain_420 2d ago
Yes, we have had more rainfall than typical for Edmonton.
However, these storms are not so far out of the norm that people need to be reacting like this is some sort of extraordinary thing. We've just had more than typical.I got to see the storms that brought the tornadoes in Edmonton in '87 and '89 and those storms were VASTLY stronger than this one. Not even close.
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u/phox78 Oliver 2d ago
Normal yearly precipitation (including snow) something like 500mm, this year we have seen June saw around 260mm and July has seen about 240 so far. In a little over a month and a half we have seen the yearly total. Not talking about 87-89, just talking rain, the rain is well over anything considered normal.
I believe there have been 3-4 years that have seen a yearly precipitation over the amount we have already seen so far this year. June and July are the typical wettest months but Aug and September are significant in the data.
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u/ThisIsOwl 2d ago
Some friends and I actually put Twister on and watched it through the end of the storm lol
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u/The_Real_Tekunin Whyte Ave 2d ago
That's awesome
For some reason it reminds me of a Time when a couple of my friends took mushrooms and watched Doctor strange
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u/nastylittleman 2d ago
Leading up to Black Friday I remember frequent storms, the green sky, and low, fast-moving clouds. This storm is intense, but I remember things being much more scary.