From NWS
1995: A severe thunderstorm dropped very large hail in a short swath across southeastern Clay, southwestern Palo Alto, northeastern Buena Vista, and Pocahontas counties. Golf ball to baseball sized hail fell near Webb and Ayrshire and at Rush Lake pea sized hail covered the ground a foot deep. The hail became even larger further southeast reaching 4.5 inches in diameter near Laurens. The storm began to weaken soon thereafter but still produced golf ball sized hail near Havelock and Pocahontas.

1918: Extremely hot weather sent the temperature soaring to 110 F at Des Moines which remains tied for the all-time record at that location. Other reported high temperatures around the state included 113 F at Clarinda, Knoxville, and Shenandoah, 112 F at Pella, and 110 F at Atlantic.

4 August 1644 → The first weather observations made on a regular basis in the U.S. were taken by Reverend John Campanius Holm in Wilmington, DE. 4 August 1881 → The all-time highest European temperature occurred in Seville, Spain where it was a scorching 122 degrees. 4 August 1904 → Half of Waconia, MN was destroyed by an F4 tornado. Thirty homes were utterly destroyed, and the debris was carried for miles. 4 August 2003 → While flying a refueling mission supporting Operation Enduring Freedom, a US KC-135 was struck twice by lightning within 8 minutes. The stunned aircrew landed safely with only minor damage to the aircraft.

Posted under Weather History