A severe storm in the Midwest may have just broken an alarming record, as photos and video afterward showed hail the size of baseballs scattered across a yard in Illinois.

Accuweather meteorologist and storm chaser Tony Laubach showed his measurement of a 5.25-inch hailstone in Kankakee, Illinois, on Tuesday after a massive storm hit the area.

The hailstone was larger than the previous Illinois record of 4.75 inches, which was set in June 2015.

Laubach said the hail left “craters” in the ground where it hit.

“This is nuts,” Laubach declared. “This is some of the biggest hail I’ve seen in quite some time. And again, the ground is just covered in it. You can see as I’m walking here, just massive hailstones everywhere.”

He later shared a piece of hail that topped six inches and was more than a pound, which was found by the Denault family in Kankakee.

“Pending certification from the [Illinois] State Climate Extremes Committee, these are the numbers for the likely Illinois NEW state record hailstone!” Laubach wrote on Facebook.

The Kankakee Storm

Baseball-sized hail wasn’t the only danger in Kankakee on Tuesday—the city of roughly 24,000 was also hit by a powerful tornado, which destroyed at least 30 homes, damaged 500 buildings across the state, and left at least three dead in Illinois and northwest Indiana.

One person was killed by the tornado in Aroma Park, a small town in Kankakee County, according to the Kankakee County sheriff’s department.

The county coroner said the person was found deceased in their home, which was damaged by the storm.

Similarly, according to the Associated Press, two more deaths occurred in Lake Village, where a couple were killed when the tornado crushed their home.

One storm chaser captured the enormous tornado crossing I-57, as well as the moment when hail smashed his windshield.

“Oh jeez,” Brandon Copic exclaimed as a second piece of hail further splintered his windshield, and he pulled over briefly before continuing toward the tornado, adding, “This hail is going to leave a mark.”

A Potential Record

Dr. Trent Ford, an Illinois-based climatologist, is part of Illinois’ State Climate Extremes Committee.

In an email to Newsweek, Ford said the largest hailstone gathered in Kankakee was roughly 6.17 inches in diameter—a measurement made both by the family that collected it as well as by scientists at Northern Illinois University.

Ford said the committee—which includes representatives from NOAA, the National Weather Service and two state universities—will now review the hailstone to vote on whether or not it is an official state record.

“It’s hard to say how long this process will take—depending on peoples’ schedules—but hopefully we’ll have an official ruling from the committee soon,” Ford said.

Will Climate Change Make Hail Worse?

According to Accuweather, studies offer mixed evidence that hail will get worse as storms intensify due to climate change.

One 2017 study found that while storms will intensify in both power and frequency, the warmer temperatures are more likely to melt hail before it reaches the ground.

However, in areas where hail does land, the study projected that hail is somewhat likely to increase in size.

“Although fewer hail days are expected over most areas in the future, an increase in the mean hail size is projected, with fewer small hail events and a shift toward a more frequent occurrence of larger hail,” the researchers wrote.