Every year from June to mid-September, a team of 14 pilots and four meteorologists constantly monitor weather radar in Alberta’s aptly named Hailstorm Alley. When they see a threatening storm forming, pilots jump into up to five small, twin-engine turboprop planes and race with flares to inject silver iodide particles into the feeder clouds flanking the main storm cell.

“The meteorologist can launch us at a moment's notice,” Andrew Brice, pilot and flight operations lead for the Alberta Hail Suppression Project, said in a phone interview with Canada’s National Observer.

“Storms can be fast moving around here, so every minute that we're late or delayed can result in a lot of liquid water getting up into that main updraft and creating larger hail. We need to be there as soon as possib

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