High winds and torrential rains whipped through the area this morning, flooding streets, knocking over tree limbs and damaging buildings and vehicles.

In Brookings, South Dakota the Super 8 Motel had the middle portion of its roof blown off,  two semi trailers were blown over on Highway 14 between Volga and  Brookings.

 “It just picked up one of them and turned it over,” said Paul Brown, shop  foreman for Jensen Trucking, who watched the wind topple the trailers.

 At 10:15 a.m., the Brookings Airport reported wind gusts of 71 mph. The  storm dumped nearly an inch of rain in less than an hour. Marble-sized hail  also was reported throughout the area.  Funnel clouds were reported in the area, but officials said no tornadoes had  touched down as of presstime.

 City streets turned into rivers. The Swiftel office on Fourth Street was flooded  when water poured in from the sidewalk.

 Hamlin, Lake, Deuel and Moody counties had reported no damage by  presstime.

 In Kingsbury County, however, the storm system pelted the ground with  pea-sized hail stones.

 “The whole ground is white,” Kingsbury County Sheriff Charles Smith said this  morning.  In Volga, sporadic golf ball-sized hair reportedly fell. http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=446223&BRD=1127&PAG=461&dept_id=92769

Equation: Sunspots = Solar Flares = Magnetic Shift = Shifting Ocean and Jet Stream Currents = Extreme Weather

Mitch Battros