The National Weather Service (web|news) says Arkansas thunderstorms dumped hail as big as golf balls and blew down trees with straight-line gusts up to 60 mph Tuesday.

State police said a chain-reaction pileup on Interstate 40 in east Arkansas during one storm Tuesday afternoon sent several people to the hospital and closed down the highway's westbound lanes for several hours. Except for that accident, in which two tractor-trailers caught on fire, little damage was reported from the afternoon storms, other than downed power lines.

The storms were widely spread across the state, with locations as far apart as Fulton County in northern Arkansas, Dallas County in southwest Arkansas and Russellville in west Arkansas reporting hail and high winds.

In between, major storm activity was reported in Lonoke County, just east of Little Rock. Hail an inch in diameter fell at Humnoke, while marble-sized hailstones were reported at Cabot and nickel-sized hail at nearby Austin.

The weather service said a trained weather spotter reported a gust estimated at 60 mph in Cabot, while the agency said tree limbs were reported blown down across power lines at Russellville.

The weather service said Garland County also was targeted by the storms, with a wind gust measured at 59 mph. Hail was reported at several locations in the county, including Jessieville, Piney and Hot Springs.

The weather service said dime-sized hail was reported at Salem in Fulton County, while golf ball-sized hail fell at Dalark in Dallas County.


(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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