The latest hail report says golf-ball size hail damaged crops across Western Canada during the first ten days of August.

The president of the Canadian Crop Hail Association, Rick Omelchenko, says there are about 400 claims of crop damage from pea to golf-ball size hail in the first part of August.

“The storms are small, but very severe in the middle, and they’re creating a lot of damage, especially at this stage of growth,” said Omelchenko. “The crops are getting affected a lot worse than they did in earlier stages, but it’s not widespread, it’s very narrow, very small, and it tapers off really quickly.”

Omelchenko says over 20 Saskatchewan communities were hit by hail during early August.

He says hail claims so far are about average in Saskatchewan, above average in Alberta and below average in Manitoba.