For a few hours on this Sunday afternoon, several strong to severe thunderstorms streamed from southwest-to-northeast through far eastern portions of South Central Nebraska, primarily affecting locations east of a line from Nelson-Grafton-Stromsburg. Of the handful of storm reports received, all of them consisted of hail ranging in size from pennies to ping pong balls. The largest reported 1.5 inch stones fell in Nelson, while quarter size hail fell during two separate storms in Shickley and also Davenport. Rainfall-wise, there were no reports of impactful flooding as amounts in most places averaged less than 1.50, with a few of the slightly higher exceptions featuring 1.87 four miles southeast of Waco (NeRAIN) and 1.58 four miles south of Shickley (NWS cooperative observer).
In the days and even hours leading up to this event, it appeared that severe thunderstorms might develop farther west and thus pose an overall more widespread and significant threat within the 24-county South Central Nebraska area. However, a slow-moving, north-south oriented cold front shifted eastward through most of the area during the day, and by the time convective initiation occurred, this primary low-level convergence zone focused severe storms only within the far-eastern local counties. Timing-wise, severe convection first flared up between 330-430 pm CDT, as seasonably-strong forcing along the front quickly resulted in a messy storm mode with numerous cell mergers helping prevent the establishment of discrete supercells and a potential tornadic threat. Also between 330-430 pm CDT, a separate of strong storms briefly brushed a few local counties farther north such as Greeley and Nance, but this area of convection did not intensify to severe levels until it exited the area. Back south within the main convective corridor, local storm coverage peaked between 430-630 pm CDT, before quickly departing eastward into eastern Nebraska and ending the South Central Nebraska severe threat.
On the synoptic and mesoscale levels, this was a rather potent late-summer severe weather setup. In the mid and upper levels, a broad, seasonably strong trough shifted eastward out of the Rockies into Nebraska, accompanied by an upper level jet streak and resultant increase in upper level divergence. Meanwhile, low-level forcing focused along the aforementioned cold front as surface temperatures climbed into the 80s F and dewpoints averaged well into the 60s. Instability and shear parameters were certainly supportive of supercell development along the front, as mixed-layer CAPE climbed into the 2000-3000 J/kg range in the presence of 0-6 kilometer deep layer wind shear as high as 40-50 knots.

Hail in NUCKOLLS, NEBRASKA
From 31-AUG-14 14:55:00 to 31-AUG-14 14:58:00 (CST-6)
Location: NELSON
Magnitude: 1.50 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: COOP Observer

One inch diameter hail began falling at 3:55 p.m. CDT, and by 3:58 p.m. CDT, hail diameter increased to 1.5 inches.

Hail in FILLMORE, NEBRASKA
From 31-AUG-14 15:25:00 to 31-AUG-14 15:28:00 (CST-6)
Location: SHICKLEY
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Hail in CLAY, NEBRASKA
From 31-AUG-14 15:43:00 to 31-AUG-14 15:43:00 (CST-6)
Location: EDGAR
Magnitude: 0.75 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in THAYER, NEBRASKA
From 31-AUG-14 15:27:00 to 31-AUG-14 15:27:00 (CST-6)
Location: CARLETON
Magnitude: 0.88 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Dime to nickel size hail occurred.

Hail in FILLMORE, NEBRASKA
From 31-AUG-14 16:03:00 to 31-AUG-14 16:06:00 (CST-6)
Location: SHICKLEY
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Hail in THAYER, NEBRASKA
From 31-AUG-14 16:15:00 to 31-AUG-14 16:15:00 (CST-6)
Location: DAVENPORT
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Public

Hail in NUCKOLLS, NEBRASKA
From 31-AUG-14 15:30:00 to 31-AUG-14 15:30:00 (CST-6)
Location: HARDY
Magnitude: 0.88 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in THAYER, NEBRASKA
From 31-AUG-14 16:40:00 to 31-AUG-14 16:40:00 (CST-6)
Location: DAVENPORT
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Public

This report was received via Facebook.