Mother Nature decides to prune

City of McCook employee Steve Miller helps clean up Kelly Park after the severe weather that rolled through last night tore down branches from many of the trees throughout town. In a report compiled this morning, the National Weather Service in Goodland, Kansas, reported 85-mile-an-hour winds and pea-sized hail eight miles south of Culbertson at 3:57 a.m., today, and 70-mile-an-hour winds at McCook at 4:23 a.m., today. About 11 p.m., Hitchcock and Red Willow counties were placed in tornado warning areas. Baseball-size hail fell four miles north-northeast of Farnam about 8:30 p.m., Monday, and then earlier this morning, at 1:46 a.m., winds gusting to 70 miles an hour and golfball-size hail battered the same area. At 5:05 a.m., today, pea-sized hail was tossed around by 50-60-mile-an-hour winds three miles south of Cambridge.