While general thunderstorm activity affected much of South Central Nebraska at some point between the late afternoon of Thursday the 11th and the early morning of Friday the 12th, the only severe-criteria wind/hail reports came from the far southeastern and western reaches of the 24-county area. There was also a lone report from a storm chaser of a weak, brief EF0 rope tornado in extreme southern Sherman County around sunset. Generally speaking, this event consisted of two distinct rounds of strong to severe storms over roughly an eight-hour period, with a decent break in between. During round 1, which focused during the early evening from 6-8 p.m. CDT, a quick-moving convective cluster charged east-northeast through mainly Nuckolls and Thayer counties, resulting in several reports of estimated 50-70 MPH wind gusts, highlighted by estimated 70 MPH gusts west of Deshler and 65 MPH near Belvidere. As this initial round was in the process of departing the local area into southeast Nebraska between 8-9 p.m. CDT, attention shifted off to the northwest as an isolated cell with occasional supercell characteristics drifted into southern Sherman County from the west. Although radar data suggested this storm was in the process of weakening, it nonetheless produced the aforementioned brief tornado southwest of Rockville before fading away. From 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. CDT, the vast majority of South Central Nebraska found itself storm-free as all active weather focused off to the east and also northwest. Eventually though, round 2 of strong to severe storms targeted primarily Dawson County between 1-2 a.m. CDT as a broken line of convection over western Nebraska briefly morphed into a small-scale bow echo. This activity yielded reports of quarter size hail in Gothenburg, estimated 60 MPH winds with tree limbs down in Cozad and a measured 56 MPH gust at the Lexington airport. However, this storm complex soon weakened below severe thresholds as it tracked deeper into the local area, and although isolated to scattered storms persisted across various parts of South Central Nebraska until around 5 a.m. CDT on the 29th there were no additional severe weather reports. Rainfall-wise, the vast majority of the area averaged well-under 1 inch, with some pockets of 1-2 concentrated mainly within Nuckolls/Thayer counties from round 1.
Given that this event consisted of different rounds of storms separated in both location and time, it should come as no surprise that the upper air and surface situation was somewhat complex. Starting with the mid-upper levels, forcing was respectable for mid-August as South Central Nebraska was positioned downstream from a broad, slow-moving trough edging from the Northern Rockies toward the Dakotas. Embedded within this mean trough were several smaller-scale shortwaves, each helping to drive the separate rounds of convection. At the surface, a very slow-moving/weak cold front gradually worked its way southeastward through South Central Nebraska during the evening/overnight. Digging a bit deeper, round 1 during the early evening was largely driven by weak convergence and considerable instability focused along a pre-frontal surface trough stretched from southwest KS into southeast NE. Despite fairly weak deep-layer wind shear only around 30 knots, these storms quickly became severe in an environment featuring at least 2000-3000 J/kg mixed-layer CAPE and surface dewpoints well into the low-mid 70s F. The second round of storms that arrived later in the night initially developed during the evening well to the west over the High Plains and was tied more closely to the primary mid level vort max approaching from WY and also the actual surface cold front. Even at this late hour, round 2 still had up to around 1000 J/kg mixed-layer CAPE to work with.

Thunderstorm Wind in THAYER, NEBRASKA
From 11-AUG-16 18:10:00 to 11-AUG-16 18:10:00 (CST-6)
Location: DAVENPORT
Magnitude: 52.00 EG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Wind gusts in excess of 60 mph occurred on Highway 4 near Davenport.

Hail in DAWSON, NEBRASKA
From 12-AUG-16 00:08:00 to 12-AUG-16 00:08:00 (CST-6)
Location: GOTHENBURG
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Law Enforcement

Thunderstorm wind gusts of 50 mph also occurred with the quarter size hail.

Thunderstorm Wind in THAYER, NEBRASKA
From 11-AUG-16 18:24:00 to 11-AUG-16 18:24:00 (CST-6)
Location: BELVIDERE
Magnitude: 52.00 EG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Wind in excess of 60 mph occurred in Belvidere.

Thunderstorm Wind in THAYER, NEBRASKA
From 11-AUG-16 18:27:00 to 11-AUG-16 18:27:00 (CST-6)
Location: BRUNING
Magnitude: 52.00 EG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Wind gusts of 60 mph were estimated at Bruning.

Thunderstorm Wind in THAYER, NEBRASKA
From 11-AUG-16 18:28:00 to 11-AUG-16 18:28:00 (CST-6)
Location: BELVIDERE
Magnitude: 56.00 EG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Estimated wind gusts of 60 to 65 mph occurred about four miles north of Hebron.

Tornado in SHERMAN, NEBRASKA
From 11-AUG-16 19:52:00 to 11-AUG-16 19:53:00 (CST-6)
Location: ROCKVILLE
Tornado F-scale: EF0
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Storm Chaser

A very narrow and short-lived rope tornado occurred. A tornado photo was posted on Twitter.

Thunderstorm Wind in THAYER, NEBRASKA
From 11-AUG-16 18:09:00 to 11-AUG-16 18:09:00 (CST-6)
Location: DESHLER
Magnitude: 61.00 EG
Property damage: 5.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Wind gusts of 60 to 70 mph were estimated by a trained spotter. Tree limbs up to four inches in diameter snapped.

Thunderstorm Wind in DAWSON, NEBRASKA
From 12-AUG-16 00:25:00 to 12-AUG-16 00:25:00 (CST-6)
Location: COZAD
Magnitude: 52.00 EG
Property damage: 20.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: COOP Observer

There were six to eight inch diameter tree limbs blown down from estimated 60 mph thunderstorm wind gusts.