Heavy rain and flash flooding occurred on this Saturday morning, along with a few reports of severe hail and winds between Grand Island and Hastings. Between midnight and 1 a.m. CST, small, isolated single-cell thunderstorms developed over central Nebraska, between Ainsworth and Lexington. As the night progressed, they were joined by more storms with an increasing trend toward a multicell convective mode as a common cold pool formed. The southern end of the developing MCS drifted eastward into Valley and Sherman Counties, with the deep convection on the west side of the MCS remaining quasi-stationary. After 6 a.m. CST, the northern portion of the MCS (over the Sandhills) weakened while the southern portion became dominant. By 6:30 a.m. CST, the dominant storms evolved into a short east-west oriented squall line across Sherman and Howard Counties. This line subsequently dropped southeast across Hall between 7 and 8 a.m. CST, then continued all the way down to Hebron, exiting south central Nebraska a little after 10 a.m. CST. Cell training produced a north-northwest to south-southeast oriented swath of 3 to 5 inches of rain across Valley, Sherman, and Howard Counties. Minor flash flooding resulted in water covering roads in some areas. As the storms tracked across Hall and northern Adams Counties, some low-end severe hail (dime to quarter size) occurred in a few spots. The most significant report of severe weather was a blown over tractor-trailer near the Interstate 80 interchange at Alda.
This MCS developed far from any fronts, but on the eastern edge of a tongue of higher theta-e air in the lower levels, in the presence of warm air advection and deep convergence. A 25-30 kt low level jet over and just west of the genesis region. The front that moved through the region, on Wednesday the 27th, was quasi-stationary from the Ohio Valley southwest to Oklahoma, with its western extent banked up against the Rockies in Colorado and Wyoming. High pressure encompassed much of the north central and northeast U.S. These elevated thunderstorms developed in a regime in which surface temperatures were in the lower to middle 60s, with dewpoints in the upper 50s to lower 60s. In the upper levels, the Westerlies were weak and covered the northern half of the U.S. They were fairly zonal in character, but did exhibit a slight ridge over the Northern Rockies, with a pair of weak shortwave troughs moving through the mid-Mississippi Valley and Nebraska and Kansas. This MCS occurred along the eastern fringe of a tight instability gradient in which MUCAPE was between 500 and 900 J/kg. Mid-level lapse rates were moist adiabatic. Effective deep layer shear was between 35 and 45 kts.

Flash Flood in VALLEY, NEBRASKA
From 30-JUL-16 06:00:00 to 30-JUL-16 08:30:00 (CST-6)
Location: ARCADIA
Flood cause: Heavy Rain
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Heavy rainfall over a few hours resulted in water running over the intersection of Highways 70 and 58 east of Arcadia for a short time. There were portions of a number of county roads and driveways covered with water. Ground truth rainfall totals ranged from 3 to 5 inches.

Flash Flood in SHERMAN, NEBRASKA
From 30-JUL-16 06:00:00 to 30-JUL-16 08:30:00 (CST-6)
Location: LOUP CITY
Flood cause: Heavy Rain
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Heavy rainfall over a few hours resulted in water running over the intersection of Highways 70 and 58 east of Arcadia for a short time. There were portions of a number of county roads and driveways covered with water. Ground truth rainfall totals ranged from 3 to 5 inches.

Flash Flood in HOWARD, NEBRASKA
From 30-JUL-16 07:15:00 to 30-JUL-16 09:15:00 (CST-6)
Location: NYSTED
Flood cause: Heavy Rain
Property damage: 15.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Law Enforcement

Heavy rainfall over a few hours resulted in water running over a portion of Highway 11 approximately 2 miles north of Dannebrog for a short time. Radar estimates showed that 3 to 5 inches of rain may have fallen over the area. There was one ground truth rainfall report of 3.13 inches in Dannebrog.

Hail in HALL, NEBRASKA
From 30-JUL-16 07:55:00 to 30-JUL-16 07:55:00 (CST-6)
Location: DONIPHAN
Magnitude: 0.75 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in ADAMS, NEBRASKA
From 30-JUL-16 08:02:00 to 30-JUL-16 08:08:00 (CST-6)
Location: (HSI)HASTINGS ARPT
Magnitude: 0.75 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Official NWS Observations

Hail in MERRICK, NEBRASKA
From 30-JUL-16 06:46:00 to 30-JUL-16 06:46:00 (CST-6)
Location: CHAPMAN
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Public

Penny to quarter size hail was reported on the Hall and Merrick County line.

Heavy Rain in VALLEY, NEBRASKA
From 30-JUL-16 03:15:00 to 30-JUL-16 06:15:00 (CST-6)
Location: ARCADIA
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Public

Report of 4.75 inches of rain in the past 24 hours, with approximately 4 inches of that falling in the past 3 hours.

Thunderstorm Wind in HALL, NEBRASKA
From 30-JUL-16 07:25:00 to 30-JUL-16 07:25:00 (CST-6)
Location: ALDA
Magnitude: 52.00 EG
Property damage: 3.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Law Enforcement

A semi truck and trailer were blown over near the Alda interchange of Interstate 80.

Thunderstorm Wind in HALL, NEBRASKA
From 30-JUL-16 07:30:00 to 30-JUL-16 07:30:00 (CST-6)
Location: GRAND IS
Magnitude: 52.00 EG
Property damage: 15.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Law Enforcement

A large tree was blown down, covering a portion of Shady Bend Road on the east side of Grand Island. The exact diameter of the tree was unknown, but a front-end loader was required to move the tree from the road.

Thunderstorm Wind in HALL, NEBRASKA
From 30-JUL-16 07:54:00 to 30-JUL-16 07:54:00 (CST-6)
Location: DONIPHAN
Magnitude: 52.00 EG
Property damage: 5.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Wind gusts were estimated to be 60 MPH. Spotter was pulled over on the side of Highway 281 due to blinding rain, and also reported that vehicle was rocking due to the strong winds.

Heavy Rain in VALLEY, NEBRASKA
From 29-JUL-16 07:00:00 to 30-JUL-16 07:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: ARCADIA
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: CoCoRaHS

Total rainfall over the past 24 hours was 4.25 inches, much of which fell in past 3-4 hours.

Heavy Rain in VALLEY, NEBRASKA
From 29-JUL-16 07:00:00 to 30-JUL-16 07:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: ELYRIA
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: CoCoRaHS

Total rainfall over the past 24 hours was 3.55 inches, much of which fell in past 3-4 hours.

Heavy Rain in SHERMAN, NEBRASKA
From 29-JUL-16 07:00:00 to 30-JUL-16 07:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: LOUP CITY
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: CoCoRaHS

Total rainfall over the past 24 hours was 3.76 inches, much of which fell in past 3-4 hours.

Heavy Rain in HOWARD, NEBRASKA
From 29-JUL-16 07:00:00 to 30-JUL-16 07:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: DANNEBROG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Public

Total rainfall over the past 24 hours was 3.13 inches, much of which fell in past 3-4 hours.