‘It’s just nasty:’ Hailstorm hammers Grand Coulee area

Willie Suwala got a little surprise during his commute home to the Belle Plaine area Thursday.

“There was, I bet you, at least six inches of hail on the highway there,” Suwala said. “The fields are white.”

The severe thunderstorm that hit areas of Saskatchewan on Thursday afternoon dumped hail on the Grand Coulee area.

According to Suwala, police officers had the Trans-Canada Highway down to one lane and tow trucks were pulling six vehicles out of the ditch.

“It’s just nasty,” said Suwala, who said he couldn’t pull over to take a picture because the hail was too deep.

As he kept going west, though, things returned to normal.

“As soon as you get away from it, it’s beautiful,” Suwala said. “Everything’s dry here. It hailed all in one spot in that area for about a mile to two miles maybe, where it really was heavy.

“It’s just unreal hail. I haven’t seen that in years.”

That said, Suwala admitted he wasn’t terribly shocked by what he saw.

“I’m from Saskatchewan, (I) grew up here (and so) I’m used to adverse weather,” Suwala said. “We get four seasons in one day.”