CHOKIO, Minn — Look closely and you’ll see signs of Wednesday's big hailstorm in shattered windshields and dented roofs around Stevens County.
For Kelly and Paula Zimmerman of Chokio, their proof can be found in their freezer.
“It was a loud thunk and I thought, 'What’s going on!?'” recalled Paula after the storm hit her farm just before 5 p.m.
When their property was in the clear, the couple found multiple baseball-sized hail stones, one in particular was nearly 5 inches.
“I talked with someone from the National Weather Service who said we might have a state record,” said Kelly. “We didn’t have that record for very long.”
Just a mile up the road from them, neighbors got a hold of a 6-inch piece.
“I’ve never seen anything like that,” smiled Samantha Benson.
Samantha’s husband found a soft-ball-sized piece of hail in their backyard. He also found a dented roof and two cars with smashed windows.
“It was very, very loud; it was insane,” she said.
Nick Elms, a professional storm tracker and assistant to the emergency manager for Steven's County, suspects the piece of hail would tie the state record for the largest hailstone.
"I, personally, have never witnessed a hailstorm of this caliber in my Minnesota residency career," said Elms.
According to Big Stone and Stevens County Emergency Management, there were no reports of anyone injured.
“I’m just glad everyone was safe,” said Samantha.
So, while they turn to their attention to cleaning up the mess and filing insurance claims, they’ll put their other tasks on ice.