NEW LONDON -- Sirens sounded and heavy rain and some hail fell in a few areas as severe weather moved quickly through parts of Kandiyohi County, Pope County and Stearns County Friday afternoon.
The National Weather Service in the Twin Cities issued a severe thunderstorm warning from 4:44 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. for the affected area. The Weather Service said the storm was capable of producing quarter-size hail and damaging wind in excess of 60 mph.
In Kandiyohi County, the storm appeared to be isolated in a narrow swath along County Road 40, about 9 miles west of New London, where heavy rain and golf ball-size hail were reported. Two hour after the short but powerful storm swept through, an observer reported seeing mounds of hail stones were still piled up in ditches and along the road.
Farm fields were flooded, but it was too early to say if new, 3-4-inch-tall corn plants were damaged.
Sirens sounded in New London shortly before 5 p.m. because a slight rotation was seen in dark, low-hanging clouds west of the city. But the storm moved on quickly without causing any damage.
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In southwestern Stearns County, Don Lewis, manager of the Belgrade Co-op Association Agronomy Center, said the sirens sounded as a weather watch, but no severe weather was seen.
"We had pea-size hail, very little of it. Just good showers, no hail or damaging winds or anything,'' said Lewis.
The storm continued moving east.
Pat Walsh, owner of Atwater Ford, said Atwater had not received any hail, but had showers off and on.
"It looked real bad north of here. We thought we'd put some cars away in case it was going to hail, so we put a few away. But I don't think it was going to hit here the way it looks,'' he said late Friday afternoon. "We had a gust of wind ... I saw the trees were blowing pretty hard. Now it's calm.''
A dispatcher at the Pope County Sheriff's Department in Glenwood said there were no reports of damage. He said minor hail fell by Lowry and Starbuck.
The dispatcher said sirens were sounded after some rotation was seen in clouds over Lake Minnewaska, but he said no actual funnel was spotted.
