After a July 8 storm, soybean and corn crops south of Oakes, North Dakota now lay shredded in fields. Area farmer Scott German has never seen hail damage to this extent. According to the National Weather Service, hail diameter ranged from 1 ¾ inch to 2 ¾ inches. “There were corn fields eight-to-nine feet tall and 50 percent tasseled that look like you took a rotary mower to them,” says German. “In a three by seven mile stretch, I counted 11 irrigation lines tipped over. One producer lost five, 50,000 bushel grain bins.” German did not sustain any major damage to his crops from the storm. However, area farmers remain cautiously optimistic after the recent string of weather events.