Following a three-week lull in severe thunderstorm activity within the 24-county South Central Nebraska area, a limited severe event unfolded on this Sunday, kicking off what would be a very active month. Although thunderstorms were widespread across nearly all of South Central Nebraska at some point during the day into the early evening, the few known severe-criteria reports originated from the far southwestern counties of Gosper and Furnas between 1230-230 pm CDT. These limited reports were highlighted by quarter size hail in the Johnson Lake and Cambridge areas and also estimated 60 MPH winds near Cambridge. Radar signatures suggested that potentially severe winds might have occurred farther east along and slightly north of the state line from Harlan through Thayer counties, but there were no ground-truth reports to substantiate this. Interestingly, one of the most newsworthy incidents of the day was associated with a non-severe late morning thunderstorm, as a lightning strike sparked a damaging fire in the bell tower of a church in Arapahoe only about an hour after the conclusion of Sunday services. Rainfall-wise, this event brought a much-needed soaking of generally 1-3 to most counties along and south of the Highway 6 corridor. Localized places slightly exceeded 3, including NeRAIN 24-hour totals of 3.14 five miles south-southeast of Deweese and 3.07 two miles east of Stamford. Although impactful flooding issues were held to a minimum, water briefly covered portions of Highway 136 between Oxford and Orleans to a depth of a few inches.
Fairly weak, non-severe elevated thunderstorms got going early in the day, affecting areas mainly west of a Kearney-Alma line between 8 am-Noon CDT. Then during the 12-3 pm CDT time frame, the initially elevated storms gradually intensified, reached strong to severe levels and became more surface-based in the aforementioned southwestern counties, while general non-severe activity spread eastward across much of South Central Nebraska. Between 3-6 pm CDT, widespread non-severe storms persisted over much of the area, while the northern edge of a more organized convective line centered over north central Kansas tracked eastward along and slightly north of the state line before exiting east of the local area. In the wake of this main batch of convection, a lull ensued for a few hours before another small, weakening quasi-linear storm complex tracked out of western Nebraska into counties such as Dawson, Buffalo and Sherman between 9-11 pm CDT. However, this convection died out with little fanfare before midnight CDT. In the big picture aloft, this event was driven by a series of low amplitude shortwave disturbances ejecting eastward out of the Central Rockies into the Central Plains, along the southeastern periphery of a parent trough shifting eastward from the Northern Rockies. At the surface, a combination of a convectively-driven outflow boundary and synoptic-scale cold front gradually worked southeastward across South Central Nebraska over the course of the day and evening. Although early-day convection and resultant cloud cover kept much of South Central Nebraska from realizing its full potential for low level destabilization, many areas were able to at least briefly realize high temperatures in the 80s F, along with dewpoints in the low-mid 60s. As storms intensified during the afternoon hours, the mesoscale environment featured steep mid level lapse rates, mixed layer CAPE up to around 2000 J/kg and increasing 0-6 kilometer deep layer wind shear of 40-50 knots.

Hail in GOSPER, NEBRASKA
From 01-JUN-14 11:46:00 to 01-JUN-14 11:46:00 (CST-6)
Location: JOHNSON RES
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in FURNAS, NEBRASKA
From 01-JUN-14 13:04:00 to 01-JUN-14 13:04:00 (CST-6)
Location: CAMBRIDGE
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Heavy Rain in HARLAN, NEBRASKA
From 01-JUN-14 06:00:00 to 02-JUN-14 06:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: STAMFORD
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

A storm total rainfall amount of 3.07 inches was reported by an NeRAIN observer.

Heavy Rain in NUCKOLLS, NEBRASKA
From 01-JUN-14 06:00:00 to 02-JUN-14 06:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: ANGUS
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

A storm total rainfall amount of 3.14 inches was reported by an NeRAIN observer.

Lightning in FURNAS, NEBRASKA
From 01-JUN-14 10:20:00 to 01-JUN-14 10:20:00 (CST-6)
Location: ARAPAHOE
Property damage: 15.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Broadcast Media

Lightning from a non-severe storm struck St. Germanus Catholic Church and resulted in a fire that burned a portion of the bell tower. This incident occurred a little more than an hour after Sunday morning worship services ended.

Thunderstorm Wind in FURNAS, NEBRASKA
From 01-JUN-14 13:04:00 to 01-JUN-14 13:04:00 (CST-6)
Location: CAMBRIDGE
Magnitude: 52.00 EG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Wind gusts were estimated to be near 60 MPH.