Between the late evening of Wednesday the 23rd and early morning hours of Thursday the 24th, a parade of primarily elevated strong to severe thunderstorms produced large hail and a few estimated wind gusts up to 70 MPH within a concentrated southwest-to-northeast corridor. This corridor generally stretched from Furnas and Phelps Counties in southwest portions of the area, to Greeley and Nance Counties in the northeast. A few of the more notable storm reports occurred in or just west of the city of Kearney around midnight CDT, with ping pong ball size hail and estimated 70 MPH wind gusts. A bit later, quarter size hail fell on the south side of Grand Island. Strong elevated storms first started developing in the wake of a seasonably strong surface cold front between 9-10 PM CDT, and by the 11 PM-Midnight CDT time frame, several severe storms were training over the aforementioned corridor across the heart of South Central Nebraska. By 1 AM CDT, a gradual weakening trend commenced and the severe weather threat ended for the night, despite weak activity persisting well into the pre-dawn hours. Storm total rainfall amounts mainly topped out in the 1-2 inch range.
Although all severe weather in the local area occurred after dark, eastern portions of South Central Nebraska narrowly missed the development of a few severe storms near the actual surface cold front during the late afternoon and early evening hours. In fact, one late afternoon storm barely avoided the eastern edge of York County, dropping quarter size hail just outside the county line near Utica. Other storms attempted to intensify in the Fillmore and Thayer County area before sunset, but struggled in the presence of weak capping. As a result, the main show waited until after dark when stronger synoptic scale forcing arrived over the post-frontal airmass. This occurred as a strong mid level shortwave swung into the region out of the Central Rockies, inducing intense low-mid level frontogenetic forcing. Despite a cool and stable airmass at the surface, the combination of most-unstable CAPE around 1000 J/kg and very strong 0-6 kilometer vertical wind shear of 50-70 knots fueled these fast-moving severe storms.

Hail in HAMILTON, NEBRASKA
From 23-MAY-12 21:22:00 to 23-MAY-12 21:22:00 (CST-6)
Location: AURORA
Magnitude: 0.88 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Hail in PHELPS, NEBRASKA
From 23-MAY-12 22:14:00 to 23-MAY-12 22:14:00 (CST-6)
Location: BERTRAND
Magnitude: 0.75 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Hail in HALL, NEBRASKA
From 23-MAY-12 23:45:00 to 23-MAY-12 23:55:00 (CST-6)
Location: GRAND IS
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 500.00K
Reported by: Public

Quarter size hail, accompanied by wind gusts estimated at 50 mph, covered the ground near the intersection of Highways 34 and 281.

Thunderstorm Wind in ADAMS, NEBRASKA
From 23-MAY-12 23:21:00 to 23-MAY-12 23:21:00 (CST-6)
Location: PROSSER
Magnitude: 61.00 EG
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Wind gusts were estimated at 65 to 70 mph.

Hail in BUFFALO, NEBRASKA
From 23-MAY-12 22:57:00 to 23-MAY-12 22:57:00 (CST-6)
Location: KEARNEY
Magnitude: 1.50 
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 500.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail was accompanied by wind gusts estimated at 50 mph.

Hail in BUFFALO, NEBRASKA
From 23-MAY-12 23:00:00 to 23-MAY-12 23:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: KEARNEY
Magnitude: 1.50 
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 500.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Thunderstorm Wind in BUFFALO, NEBRASKA
From 23-MAY-12 22:45:00 to 23-MAY-12 22:45:00 (CST-6)
Location: KEARNEY
Magnitude: 61.00 EG
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Wind gusts were estimated at 65 to 70 mph.

Hail in BUFFALO, NEBRASKA
From 23-MAY-12 22:37:00 to 23-MAY-12 22:37:00 (CST-6)
Location: ELM CREEK
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in FURNAS, NEBRASKA
From 23-MAY-12 23:13:00 to 23-MAY-12 23:13:00 (CST-6)
Location: EDISON
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter