Strong thunderstorms brought heavy rain, some brief tornadoes or funnel clouds, and large hail to parts of Iowa Saturday evening and night. The Severe Storms Predication Center issues a Severe Thunderstorm Watch a little after 5-p.m., Saturday, and it wasn’t long before warnings for severe weather were popping up in southwest Iowa.

The National Weather Service says one-inch diameter (quarter size) hail began to fall three-miles south/southwest of Pacific Junction in Mills County, just before the Watch was issued. Nickel size hail fell two-miles southwest of Thurman, in Fremont County, at around 5:35-p.m., but nearby, quarter-size hail was falling. About 10-minutes later, the hail had increased to the size of ping pong balls.

At around 7:40-p.m. quarter-size hail fell at Greenfield, in Adair County, and soon after, penny size hail was falling in Stuart. At around 8:45-p.m., ping-pong ball size hail fell around Mondamin, in Harrison County, and in Logan about 5 minutes later.  Quarter size hail fell around Portsmouth, in Shelby County, and golf ball size hail fell Persia at around 9:20-p.m. Golf ball size hail was also reported in southeast Iowa, near New Virginia and Traer.

There were no confirmed tornadoes in southwest Iowa, but there were reports of funnel clouds. Just south of the State line in Missouri at around 7:40-p.m., a trained spotter in Blanchard, Iowa, observed a funnel cloud had formed four-miles northeast of Westboro, MO., and law enforcement confirmed a funnel cloud near Rockport, MO., at around 7:15-p.m. In eastern Iowa’s Linn County, trained firefighter spotters saw a funnel cloud during a lightning event near Central City.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.