Today in Weather History
• 1946: Eight homes were damaged when an F1 tornado hit the northwest edge of Concord, NH. A boy was killed when a shed collapsed.
• 2003: Betsy the Giraffe was killed when struck by lightning at the Disney Animal Kingdom. The animals are usually brought into shelter during severe weather, but this storm came with too little warning.
• 2010: The U.S.'s largest (by diameter) and heaviest hailstone on record fell on

Vivian, SD. The stone was 8 inches in diameter and weighed 1.9 pounds. The person who found the stone reported that some melting had occurred before the official measurement was taken.
• 1985: In a half hour, 1.42 inches of rain fell in Pierre, resulting in flash flooding. Streets were awash and some businesses had water damage.
• 1986: Thunderstorm winds gusted to 60 mph on the Roberts and Marshall County line, southeast of Veblen. The central portion of Roberts County had up to 1.75 inches in diameter hail fall. Heavy rain of up to seven inches fell at Sica Hollow State Park, causing extensive lowland flooding in the area. Highway 10, west of Sisseton was under water for several miles. The Sisseton city park was also completely under water.
• 2007: High heat indices along with very little wind contributed to the deaths of over 2800 cattle in Brown, Spink, Day, and Marshall Counties.
• 1985: A United States record setting hailstone fell from a very strong supercell thunderstorm moving southeast across central South Dakota. The record setting hailstone fell near Vivian, South Dakota and measured 8 inches in diameter, 18.625 inches in circumference, and weighed 1.9375 pounds. This hailstone broke the previous United States record for diameter (7.0 inches - 22 June 2003 in Aurora, NE) and weight (1.67 pounds - 3 September 1970 in Coffeyville, KS). The Aurora, Nebraska hailstone will retain the record for circumference (18.75 inches). Several other stones of 6 inches or more in diameter were measured during the storm survey. Along with the very large hail, damaging winds in excess of 70 mph along with an isolated tornado occurred. The large hail and high winds caused extensive damage to homes, outbuildings, and vehicles as it moved southeast across the region. Some of the hail went completely through car windshields, roofs, garages, and campers. The hail caused five minor injuries to motorists on Interstate 90 as it went through their windshields. A minor was severely injured when the glass in the mini-van he was traveling was completely shattered by the large hail. The child suffered numerous cuts, many requiring stitches.