Alyssa Migliazza was driving home Sunday afternoon when a large white ball hit the road in front of her.
"I thought it was just from a bird. I kept driving and then I saw two more pieces of ice hit the road and I figured it was just kids playing," said the 19-year-old Thunder Bay resident. "All of a sudden it sounded like a baseball hit my car. In a half second it started hailing huge ice chunks."
The northeast region of the city experienced hail up to 2.5 centimetres wide Sunday between 4 and 5 p.m., according to Environment Canada.
"Nineteen years and I’ve never seen anything like that before so I was pretty shocked," said Migliazza.
Wasco Drive resident Brad Bushby said he also hadn’t seen hail that big before in Thunder Bay.
Both of his family’s vehicles had suffered damage - about 20 to 30 dents each - from the short storm.
"It was amazing to see the people actually go outside and try to cover up their cars and get pelted by giant pieces of hail," he said. "I just stood and watched my cars get dinged."
"You can’t do anything about it," he added. "It was really neat to watch because it was a freaky storm, but it was Mother Nature’s will I guess."
Many north side residents were reporting damage to their vehicles Monday morning. By noon, Mascarin Collision Centre had received 50 claims and had opened a hail reporting centre inside their facility.
"We have a team of paintless dent specialists, which we employ two already and we’re going to be bringing more in as required from out of town," said owner and operator Gino Mascarin. "It’s going to be almost a 24-hour shift just to get these cars repaired."
Although the number of cars coming in for repair would suggest Sunday’s hail was severe, Mascarin said a hailstorm about five years ago covered more of the city and affected several car dealerships.
While Thunder Bay’s north side was being pelted with ice Sunday, other parts of the city endured thunderstorms. Later, around 9 p.m., more thunderstorms hit the city.
Environment Canada spokesman Geoff Coulson said the region can expect more weather like this in the near future as spring brings more warmer, unstable air masses to the area. It could bring in side effects like more hail, intense rain, damaging winds and possible tornadoes.
