The Village of Potter, Nebraska was established as the railroad progressed westward. In 1870, Union Pacific built a station house and it served as the post office, the schoolhouse and the land development office. It was the only building build for several years. Potter has grown slowly over the last 150 years with less than 400 residents in 2020. Nature.com reports that a remarkable hailstorm occurred on July 6, 1928 in Potter during which hailstones “as large as grapefruit” fell, one of which measured 17 inches in circumference and weighed 1½ pounds. The stones could be heard hissing through the air, and when they fell on ploughed or soft ground they completely buried themselves. Luckily the hailstorm just missed the town itself – impacting fields and grazing land. Very little damage was done by these stones beyond the unroofing of a few houses, as they fell 10–15 feet apart. For many years, the largest hailstone officially verified in the United States was that "Potter Hailstone" .The Potter record stood until September 3, 1970, when a hailstorm of astounding proportions ravaged Coffeyville, Kansas. Hailstones smashed small craters in the soil of plowed farm fields outside Coffeyville and left lawns in town pitted and gouged, and the town itself was a shambles. But a new hail record emerged: the "Coffeyville Hailstone" weighed in at 1.67 pounds with a circumference of 17.5 inches.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.