What the hail?!

Central Wisconsin was hit with quite a storm while I was tucked away safely in "Tornado Alley" down in Texas.

Last Thursday, sirens blared, schools shut down and businesses closed for the afternoon in preparation for the wicked weather.

Not too far away, funnel clouds reportedly touched down and twisted through fields and communities. In Wisconsin Rapids, the storm came in the form of softball-size hail.

No, not golf ball or baseball, but softball. It's no surprise that huge chunks of ice falling from the sky dented cars and siding, and crashed through windshields, lawn chairs and roofs. It's a miracle no one was killed.

It's also a miracle, or pure luck, that the storm completely missed our house. We live only a few miles out of town and the storm system simply skirted around us. We didn't even get rain.

Last night, after my stepson Clay's baseball game, we stopped over at Jim's parents' house. My mother-in-law collected some balls of ice and kept them in the freezer for "show and tell." I grabbed some hail and held it in my hand. It really was as big as a softball. Unreal. You have to see it to believe it.

To see more photos, and I think it's worth your time, check out the photo galleries and reader submissions on the Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune Web site. Visit www.wisconsinrapidstribune.com. The golf course shots are cool, too. There was even a hole-in-one or two!