(Area) – “It was a dark and stormy night” lived up to an often quoted phrase from an 1830’s novel, Saturday night, across western Iowa. The National Weather Service reports hail ranging from as small as pea- to as large as baseball ball size, fell across the area. Storms also brought winds of up to 70 miles per hour. The evening began at around 5:30-p.m. with a severe thunderstorm watch issued for the far west and southwest counties. The warnings began to pop-up about two-hours later, including a tornado warning that was issued for southeast Montgomery and NE Page Counties. A possible tornado was indicated by radar, but there were no confirmed sightings.

The largest hail in southwest Iowa fell in Pottawattamie County, where baseball size hail (2.75 in diameter) was observed in Carson. Elsewhere, tennis ball size hail was reported to have occurred in Stanton, while golf ball size hail fell south of Stanton and in Griswold. Most of the hail reports from around the area, were quarter-sized, with some dime-size rocks of ice falling in Corning.

As of early Sunday morning, there were no reports of damage. That’s likely to change though, as sunlight brings a fresh perspective on the storm’s aftermath. If you have any storm damage and/or pictures you would like to submit, send them to kjannews@metc.net.  Please include (when possible) a time frame for the damage, along with the location and your name. Thank you!

Check out the latest Storm Reports listing of hail/wind events on the Weather page (Under Community Hub) at kjan.com.