Rain is always welcome in this part of Colorado—especially this year when conditions have been very dry. Thursday afternoon, July 12, Mother Nature decided to throw a twist into the action when she brought the area rain. She brought a bunch!

While only a few sprinkles fell within the city limits of Holyoke, those living just east and south of Holyoke saw a little more than that. Steve and Ronda Hayes were just leaving Holyoke when it started raining. By the time they reached Holyoke Veterinary Service, they had to pull over because it was hailing so badly. Again at Notter’s Dairy they had to stop, and again near the Sagehorn residences east of town. “It was so loud,” Ronda said of the hail slapping against the vehicle. And they weren’t the only ones experiencing the freak storm.

Ronda said it hailed on them the entire way home southeast of Holyoke. Corn was stripped, hail fell and large amounts of rain soaked the parched earth. Ditches along Highway 6 just east of town were completely full of water after the storm passed. The Enterprise photo above shows flooding near Brad and Beverly Young’s home three miles east of Holyoke. Ronda said they had over three inches of rain fall on some of their shredded corn pivots five miles east and 15 miles south of town.

The cell that brought the nasty storm “sort of appeared from nowhere,” Ronda said. After looking at the radar, the storm simply built near Holyoke and delivered the ugly punch. The courtesy photo above shows a hail-covered deck at the Hayes home. Ronda said she doesn’t remember a time there was so much hail at their home, which is located just into Yuma County southeast of Holyoke.

Holyoke Enterprise July 19, 2012