LYON COUNTY GENEALOGY
DESTRUCTIVE HAIL STORM
At various dates severe hailstorms have swept down over this, as well as most Iowa counties. To go into a storm detail in a work of this character would not be profitable, but one may be appropriately given as among the severest. It occurred in August 1893; with the village of George, in Grant Township, as its storm center. The territory covered was about four miles square. Its duration made it exceptional. It lasted fully seventy minutes. A small waterspout followed in its terrible wake. Hail fell the size of a hen’s egg and twenty-four hours after the storm were to be seen and could have been shoveled up between the buildings. Great damage was done to corn. The leaves being stripped the stalks stood out like so man peeled poles. In the surrounding country the next morning the hail stood more than an inch deep over the surface of the ground. The growing apples were all pelted from the trees and gardens were utterly ruined. The storm was even more severe in Osceola County, to the East.
Webization by Kermit Kittleson - Aug. 2006