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A South Dakota ranch worker who found a record-setting hailstone says the chunks of ice falling from the sky sounded like "big bricks" being thrown at his house.

Leslie "Les" Scott found the record-breaker, which is almost the size of a soccer ball, last week. It's been officially declared the largest ever recorded in the United States, in terms of both diameter and weight.

The hailstone measured 8.0 inches in diameter, had a circumference of 18.62 inches, and weighed one pound, 15 ounces, according to the NOAA National Climate Extremes Committee.

Scott says larger hailstones fell around the tiny town of Vivian, South Dakota last week. As severe thunderstorms swept through the area on July 23, Scott says he and a few friends gathered on a hilltop to watch the weather system.

He abandoned his position when he saw twisters taking shape in the clouds, but continued watching the storm from his home. He told CNN that he saw hailstones that were as large or larger than the one he actually kept. In fact, Scott said the smallest hailstone he found was about the size of a tennis ball.

As for the record-breaking hailstone itself, Scott said it's unusual shape was what caught his attention initially. He told CNN that, as he watched the storm pass, he saw this particular stone falling from the sky and thought it looked "spidery." On closer inspection, he found it covered in "fingers" of ice that were four or five inches long

Scott immediately took steps to preserve his unique specimen. But the after-effects of the storm interfered. He put it in the freezer but a power outage lasting 5 or 6 hours caused some melting. Scott said many of the ice "fingers" that first attracted his attention disappeared and the entire hailstone shrank a bit. He believes it was up to eleven inches in diameter when he picked it up the first time.

Scott's hailstone actually broke two previous records. The previous record in the weight category came from a hailstone that fell in Coffeyville, Kansas. It weighed 1.67 pounds. The previous record-holding hailstone in the diameter category fell in Aurora, Nebraska. It measured 7 inches across. This stone -- at 18.75 inches -- still holds the hailstone record for circumference.

The-CNN-Wire/Atlanta
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