A Sunday afternoon thunderstorm drenched Lawrence and the surrounding area, causing farmers to put their wheat harvests on hold.

“We were all ready to go and get started when it started raining,” said Gerald Dwyer, who has about 100 acres of wheat on his farm at 959 E. 1100 Road south of Lawrence.

About a half-inch of rain fell on his farm, Dwyer estimated. Mark Wulfkuhle gave a similar estimate for his farm west of Lawrence, 198 N. 1250 Road. His cousin, Lloyd Wulfkuhle, however, said about three-quarters of an inch fell on his farm at 1537 E. 100 Road, also west of Lawrence.

The farmers welcomed the rain, even though it delayed their harvests. Wheat is their minor crop, they said. They have considerably more acres of land planted with soybeans, corn and milo. Those crops needed the rain, they said.

“It was so dry,” Lloyd Wulfkuhle said.

The rain could delay wheat harvesting for one to three days, the farmers said.

The National Weather Service placed Douglas County and surrounding counties under a severe thunderstorm watch for most of Sunday afternoon.

A warning was issued just before rain began falling about 2 p.m. An hour later .94 of an inch had fallen at Lawrence Municipal Airport, the weather service said.

A weather spotter in Eudora reported 3 inches of rain fell Sunday afternoon, according to the weather service. On Kansas Highway 10 east of Lawrence, the driving downpour caused many motorists to pull off onto the shoulders to wait for visibility to improve.

Heavy rain also fell in Johnson County, where baseball-size hail was reported.

No weather-related problems, however, were reported in Douglas, Franklin or Jefferson counties, according to sheriff’s dispatchers.