HUNTERSVILLE, N.C.-- Fast-moving storms threatened tornadoes across the Piedmont Sunday, causing a brief -- but fierce – interruption in what was an otherwise sunny and pleasant Mother’s Day.

The first tornado warnings popped up in the foothills, around southern Burke County.  They quickly moved east to Lincoln County, where residents and sheriff’s deputies reported seeing a funnel cloud that briefly touched down in a rural field near Cat Square.  No damage was reported, but a hail storm sent residents like Paula Payne running for cover.

“No warning, no wind before it, no rain before it,” said Payne. “Just hail, golf ball-sized hail, for ten minutes.”   She wasn’t sure what she was running from, or where to go.

“Which way to run, what to do -- didn't know if it was a tornado or what,” said Payne.

The storm threatened tornadoes across Lincoln county, Lake Norman, and into Mecklenburg and Cabarrus counties.       

Jimmy Summers sent in photos take from a convenience store off Poplar Tent Road near I-85 in Cabarrus County. It clearly shows a funnel-shaped cloud in the distance.  There are no reports it touched down either.

Instead, leaves torn from trees by the large hail covered cars and streets, and nickel-sized hail piled up along the road between Huntersville and Concord.  Mist rising from hail that covered open fields made a surreal scene on a sunny afternoon.           

Kids in Cabarrus Crossing made the best of it, enjoying a little winter fun in the middle of spring.  Robert Monto raked marble-sized hail into a pile on his front lawn, and neighborhood children took turns sledding across it on a body-surfing board.

Photos taken during the storm make the neighborhood look like it is covered in a new-fallen snow.  Brian Levine said his family hid downstairs because of the tornado threat, but they mostly heard hail hitting the windows. 

“Just falling and bouncing all over the place,” said Levine.  “The windows were taking a beating but held up.” 

No injuries were reported in these storms, but at one point about 500 electric customers were without power in Mecklenburg County, mostly in south Charlotte.  Most of those were back on by 11pm.

The few remaining homes were near South Boulevard north of Woodlawn Road, near where a tree crushed a house in Dilworth.