Numerous strong to occasionally severe multicell storms blossomed across South Central Nebraska from the late evening of Wednesday the 3rd into the morning hours of Thursday the 4th, serving as round 1 of an active few days of severe storms and flooding rainfall. With storms ranging in character from semi-discrete to clusters and line segments, they primarily produced hail up to around quarter size, along with heavy rain. Although convection affected parts of several counties at some point during the night, the majority of ground-truth severe weather reports emanated from Adams and Clay counties, including quarter size hail on the east side of Hastings, hail up to golf ball size in Clay Center, and several hours later, a combination of quarter size hail and estimated 60 MPH winds six miles east-southeast of Clay Center. Rainfall-wise, the big story of the night was a concentrated swath of generally 1.50-3.00 that fell over southern Hall/northern Adams counties, southeastward through most of Clay, Fillmore and northern Thayer counties. Within this corridor, a few of the highest overnight totals from NeRAIN observers included 3.13 near Alexandria and 3.00 a few miles northwest of Hastings. As a result, minor flooding affected several creeks and streams and some roadways. In fact, the southbound lanes of Highway 281 in far-southern Hall County were closed for a few hours during the night due to flooding. Although this generally minor flooding subsided during the day of the 4th, unfortunately many of these same areas would soon be drenched with another 2-4 on the evening of the 4th into the morning of the 5th, resulting in 36-hour totals of 3-7 and a more serious, widespread flooding situation (please refer to the separate June 4th p.m.-June 5th a.m. severe weather episode for further details).
Breaking down the overall event timing, all convection through the pre-dark hours focused to the south over northern Kansas. Then, between 10 p.m.-midnight CDT, storms began developing northward into the southern two rows of South Central Nebraska counties, largely in response to a strengthening, northward-lifting low level jet. Over the course of the next several hours, numerous strong to occasionally severe storms continued spreading north and east across the area, with half dollar size hail reported as far north as southern Greeley County. Within the aforementioned primary zone of heavy rain, the majority fell between 2:30-6:00 a.m. CDT. As one area of storms was in the process of exiting eastern counties of the local area around sunrise, a separate, quick-moving line of non-severe convection moved in from the southwest, sweeping across most of South Central Nebraska between 5-9 a.m. CDT. Although a few storms persisted here and there through late-morning, most places began a brief respite before the next round of evening/overnight storms arrived. Turning to the synoptic and mesoscale situation: with a generally west-east oriented surface front residing near the Nebraska-Kansas border through the night, seasonably-strong instability and shear in place, and a strengthening 30-40 knot southerly low level jet taking direct aim on the local area, this was a well-anticipated nocturnal convective flare-up. On the large scale, the Central Plains was under broad west-southwest flow aloft, well-downstream from a large trough centered over the West Coast. At the time of the first severe-criteria hail reports around 11:30 p.m. CDT, the environment featured most-unstable CAPE of 1000-2000 J/kg and 0-6 kilometer deep-layer wind shear of 30-40 knots.

Hail in GREELEY, NEBRASKA
From 04-JUN-15 01:45:00 to 04-JUN-15 01:45:00 (CST-6)
Location: WOLBACH
Magnitude: 1.25 
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Public

Quarter to half dollar size hail occurred...report relayed by broadcast media.

Flash Flood in HALL, NEBRASKA
From 04-JUN-15 02:00:00 to 04-JUN-15 05:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: DONIPHAN
Flood cause: Heavy Rain
Property damage: 1.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Law Enforcement

Flooding occurred on the southbound lane of Highway 281 near Rosedale Road, and caused a few traffic accidents.

Hail in CLAY, NEBRASKA
From 03-JUN-15 22:32:00 to 03-JUN-15 22:36:00 (CST-6)
Location: CLAY CENTER
Magnitude: 1.75 
Property damage: 75.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Law Enforcement

Quarter to golf ball size hail fell during this time in Clay Center.

Hail in CLAY, NEBRASKA
From 03-JUN-15 22:25:00 to 03-JUN-15 22:27:00 (CST-6)
Location: FAIRFIELD
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Dime to quarter size hail fell during this time.

Hail in CLAY, NEBRASKA
From 03-JUN-15 22:55:00 to 03-JUN-15 22:55:00 (CST-6)
Location: SARONVILLE
Magnitude: 0.75 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Heavy Rain in ADAMS, NEBRASKA
From 03-JUN-15 06:00:00 to 04-JUN-15 06:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: (HSI)HASTINGS ARPT
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: CoCoRaHS

Total 24-hour rainfall of 3.00...most of which fell during the pre-dawn hours of the 4th.

Hail in KEARNEY, NEBRASKA
From 04-JUN-15 00:42:00 to 04-JUN-15 00:42:00 (CST-6)
Location: NEWARK
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Public

Hail in ADAMS, NEBRASKA
From 04-JUN-15 01:34:00 to 04-JUN-15 01:34:00 (CST-6)
Location: (HSI)HASTINGS ARPT
Magnitude: 0.75 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: NWS Employee

Hail occurred up to around the size of a penny at the NWS Office, but most hail stones were smaller.

Hail in ADAMS, NEBRASKA
From 04-JUN-15 02:41:00 to 04-JUN-15 02:41:00 (CST-6)
Location: HASTINGS
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: NWS Employee

A few stones up to quarter size occurred along Showboat Road on the east side of Hastings.

Hail in CLAY, NEBRASKA
From 04-JUN-15 03:40:00 to 04-JUN-15 03:40:00 (CST-6)
Location: CLAY CENTER
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: COOP Observer

Wind gusts were estimated to be 60 mph.

Hail in CLAY, NEBRASKA
From 04-JUN-15 03:50:00 to 04-JUN-15 03:50:00 (CST-6)
Location: SUTTON
Magnitude: 0.75 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Law Enforcement

Hail in FILLMORE, NEBRASKA
From 04-JUN-15 04:29:00 to 04-JUN-15 04:29:00 (CST-6)
Location: SHICKLEY
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Law Enforcement

Thunderstorm Wind in CLAY, NEBRASKA
From 04-JUN-15 03:40:00 to 04-JUN-15 03:40:00 (CST-6)
Location: CLAY CENTER
Magnitude: 52.00 EG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: COOP Observer

Quarter size hail also occurred.

Heavy Rain in THAYER, NEBRASKA
From 03-JUN-15 06:00:00 to 04-JUN-15 06:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: ALEXANDRIA
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: CoCoRaHS

Total 24-hour rainfall of 3.13...most of which fell during the pre-dawn hours of the 4th.

Hail in HOWARD, NEBRASKA
From 04-JUN-15 01:25:00 to 04-JUN-15 01:35:00 (CST-6)
Location: ELBA
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: CoCoRaHS

Pea to quarter size hail lasted around 10 minutes.

Hail in BUFFALO, NEBRASKA
From 04-JUN-15 00:00:00 to 04-JUN-15 00:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: ODESSA
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Social Media

Dime to quarter size hail occurred at Dove Hill Avenue and Highway 30.