In what had been a slower-than-average severe weather season up to this point within South Central Nebraska, this Tuesday evening event ended up being one of the most significant episodes of the 2017 season. Primarily between 6:30-10:30 p.m. CDT, a rash of severe storms consisting of semi-discrete supercells and quasi-linear clusters yielded dozens of large hail and damaging wind reports, including hail to at least tennis ball size in/very near both Grand Island and Hastings. Despite its significance, this was not a tremendously widespread event in terms of areal coverage, as the vast majority of severe weather focused within a relatively narrow, 30-50 mile wide corridor centered roughly through the Red Cloud-Hastings-Grand Island-Aurora-Osceola areas.
Severe reports were split fairly evenly between hail and damaging winds. Hail was the bigger issue in western portions of the affected areas, with wind damage more of a factor farther east. Focusing first on hail, one of the biggest stories involved both the Grand Island and Hastings areas getting pelted within the same hour. In Grand Island, much of the city saw stones ranging from quarter to tennis ball size. In Hastings, the majority of the city itself observed quarter to golf ball size hail. However, a corridor running from just a few miles southwest-through-west of the city limits endured larger hail up to baseball size. As for damaging winds, the overall-worst impacts focused within counties east of Highway 281. In west-central Polk County, a personal weather station clocked an unofficial gust of 92 MPH, with gusts of at least 70 MPH also reported in the Clay Center, Bradshaw and Guide Rock areas. Many other locations had estimated or measured gusts in the 58-65 MPH range. Needless to say, there was a considerable amount of mainly minor tree and structural damage, including within the communities of Osceola, Shelby and Hordville. Fortunately, no tornadoes were reported, although storm chasers witnessed gustnado activity along the leading edge of surging outflow. Rainfall-wise, most places received no more than 1-2 from the evening of the 13th into the early morning of the 14th. However, the primary higher exception focused within southeastern Franklin and southwestern Webster counties, where a localized maximum of 3-4 fell in the Inavale and Riverton areas.
Breaking down timing, the first severe storms of the evening erupted along a fairly narrow, southwest-northeast corridor between 6:30-7:30 p.m. CDT, during which time both Grand Island and Hastings were hit with the large hail. Over the following hour, damaging winds became the main issue as outflow surged east, especially within Polk, Hamilton and York counties. Then, between 8:30-10:30 p.m. CDT, the initial wave of severe storms exited northeast portions of the local area while a second round erupted farther south, mainly impacting Webster, Clay and Nuckolls counties. Although the severe weather threat ended by 11 p.m. CDT, quite a bit of thunderstorm activity redeveloped through the night within various portions of South Central Nebraska.

In the mid-upper levels, this event was driven by a shortwave trough swinging east through the Central Plains, to the southeast of its parent closed low centered over Montana. At the surface, early evening storm initiation clearly focused along a composite stationary front/dryline stretched north-south through central Nebraska, attendant to a surface low pressure center that deepened to 998 millibars during the late afternoon hours. To the east of this dryline, afternoon high temperatures well into the 90s F combined with dewpoints in the upper 50s-mid 60s resulted in mixed-layer CAPE values of at least 2000-3000 J/kg, in the presence of 0-6 kilometer shear increasing to 40-50 knots as the evening progressed.

Thunderstorm Wind in WEBSTER, NEBRASKA
From 13-JUN-17 17:54:00 to 13-JUN-17 17:54:00 (CST-6)
Location: BLADEN
Magnitude: 52.00 EG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Public

Wind gusts were estimated to be near 60 MPH.

Thunderstorm Wind in HAMILTON, NEBRASKA
From 13-JUN-17 18:35:00 to 13-JUN-17 18:37:00 (CST-6)
Location: HORDVILLE
Magnitude: 52.00 EG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Public

Wind gusts estimated to be near 60 MPH resulted in some small tree branches being downed in the area.

Hail in CLAY, NEBRASKA
From 13-JUN-17 18:40:00 to 13-JUN-17 18:40:00 (CST-6)
Location: TRUMBULL
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Thunderstorm Wind in ADAMS, NEBRASKA
From 13-JUN-17 18:45:00 to 13-JUN-17 18:45:00 (CST-6)
Location: AYR
Magnitude: 53.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Hail in HAMILTON, NEBRASKA
From 13-JUN-17 18:48:00 to 13-JUN-17 18:48:00 (CST-6)
Location: GILTNER
Magnitude: 0.75 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Fire Department/Rescue

Thunderstorm Wind in HAMILTON, NEBRASKA
From 13-JUN-17 19:10:00 to 13-JUN-17 19:10:00 (CST-6)
Location: HAMPTON
Magnitude: 50.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Hail in HAMILTON, NEBRASKA
From 13-JUN-17 19:13:00 to 13-JUN-17 19:13:00 (CST-6)
Location: AURORA
Magnitude: 0.88 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Thunderstorm Wind in HAMILTON, NEBRASKA
From 13-JUN-17 19:15:00 to 13-JUN-17 19:15:00 (CST-6)
Location: AURORA MUNI ARPT
Magnitude: 50.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: AWOS

Hail in WEBSTER, NEBRASKA
From 13-JUN-17 20:11:00 to 13-JUN-17 20:11:00 (CST-6)
Location: ROSEMONT
Magnitude: 0.88 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in FRANKLIN, NEBRASKA
From 13-JUN-17 20:08:00 to 13-JUN-17 20:13:00 (CST-6)
Location: RIVERTON
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Thunderstorm Wind in NUCKOLLS, NEBRASKA
From 13-JUN-17 20:25:00 to 13-JUN-17 20:25:00 (CST-6)
Location: LAWRENCE
Magnitude: 52.00 EG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: NWS Employee

Wind gusts estimated to be near 60 MPH were accompanied by pea size hail.

Hail in CLAY, NEBRASKA
From 13-JUN-17 20:32:00 to 13-JUN-17 20:32:00 (CST-6)
Location: DEWEESE
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in WEBSTER, NEBRASKA
From 13-JUN-17 20:40:00 to 13-JUN-17 20:40:00 (CST-6)
Location: RED CLOUD
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Thunderstorm Wind in CLAY, NEBRASKA
From 13-JUN-17 20:42:00 to 13-JUN-17 20:42:00 (CST-6)
Location: CLAY CENTER
Magnitude: 52.00 EG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: COOP Observer

Wind gusts estimated to be near 60 MPH were accompanied by nickel size hail.

Hail in CLAY, NEBRASKA
From 13-JUN-17 20:44:00 to 13-JUN-17 20:50:00 (CST-6)
Location: CLAY CENTER
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Law Enforcement

Hail in WEBSTER, NEBRASKA
From 13-JUN-17 20:50:00 to 13-JUN-17 20:50:00 (CST-6)
Location: RED CLOUD
Magnitude: 0.88 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Law Enforcement

Thunderstorm Wind in CLAY, NEBRASKA
From 13-JUN-17 20:50:00 to 13-JUN-17 20:50:00 (CST-6)
Location: ONG
Magnitude: 52.00 EG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Wind gusts were estimated to be near 60 MPH.

Thunderstorm Wind in NUCKOLLS, NEBRASKA
From 13-JUN-17 21:05:00 to 13-JUN-17 21:05:00 (CST-6)
Location: NELSON
Magnitude: 51.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Thunderstorm Wind in POLK, NEBRASKA
From 13-JUN-17 19:25:00 to 13-JUN-17 19:25:00 (CST-6)
Location: SHELBY
Magnitude: 56.00 EG
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Social Media

Wind gusts estimated to be near 65 MPH resulted in roof damage to a storage shed on the far east side of Shelby as well as some small tree limbs being downed.

Hail in WEBSTER, NEBRASKA
From 13-JUN-17 19:40:00 to 13-JUN-17 19:45:00 (CST-6)
Location: INAVALE
Magnitude: 1.50 
Property damage: 75.00K
Crop damage: 500.00K
Reported by: Law Enforcement

Hail ranged in size from quarter to ping pong balls.

Hail in NUCKOLLS, NEBRASKA
From 13-JUN-17 20:18:00 to 13-JUN-17 20:18:00 (CST-6)
Location: LAWRENCE
Magnitude: 1.50 
Property damage: 75.00K
Crop damage: 250.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Thunderstorm Wind in WEBSTER, NEBRASKA
From 13-JUN-17 20:57:00 to 13-JUN-17 20:57:00 (CST-6)
Location: GUIDE ROCK
Magnitude: 61.00 EG
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 500.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Wind gusts estimated near 70 MPH were accompanied by dime size hail.

Thunderstorm Wind in CLAY, NEBRASKA
From 13-JUN-17 21:20:00 to 13-JUN-17 21:20:00 (CST-6)
Location: EDGAR
Magnitude: 52.00 EG
Property damage: 5.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Wind gusts estimated near 60 MPH caused some minor tree damage in town.

Hail in WEBSTER, NEBRASKA
From 13-JUN-17 18:00:00 to 13-JUN-17 18:15:00 (CST-6)
Location: BLADEN
Magnitude: 1.25 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Thunderstorm Wind in YORK, NEBRASKA
From 13-JUN-17 19:17:00 to 13-JUN-17 19:22:00 (CST-6)
Location: BRADSHAW
Magnitude: 63.00 MG
Property damage: 5.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

A mesonet site located 3 miles west of Bradshaw measured a gust of 72 MPH at 8:17 p.m. CDT and of 73 MPH at 8:22 p.m. CDT.

Hail in ADAMS, NEBRASKA
From 13-JUN-17 17:32:00 to 13-JUN-17 17:39:00 (CST-6)
Location: HOLSTEIN
Magnitude: 2.50 
Property damage: 5.00M
Crop damage: 250.00K
Reported by: Public

Hail ranged from quarter to tennis ball size.

Hail in HALL, NEBRASKA
From 13-JUN-17 17:38:00 to 13-JUN-17 17:52:00 (CST-6)
Location: GRAND IS
Magnitude: 2.50 
Property damage: 10.00M
Crop damage: 250.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Hail ranging from quarter to tennis ball size was reported across much of Grand Island.

Hail in ADAMS, NEBRASKA
From 13-JUN-17 18:15:00 to 13-JUN-17 18:35:00 (CST-6)
Location: JUNIATA
Magnitude: 2.75 
Property damage: 2.50M
Crop damage: 250.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail along and near this path ranged in size from quarters to baseballs. The entire city of Hastings experienced hail ranging in size from quarters to hen eggs, while the largest hail fell to the west-southwest of Hastings to a few miles south of Juniata. The NWS Hastings office located 4 miles north of downtown reported half dollar size hail.

Thunderstorm Wind in CLAY, NEBRASKA
From 13-JUN-17 18:46:00 to 13-JUN-17 18:46:00 (CST-6)
Location: CLAY CENTER
Magnitude: 61.00 EG
Property damage: 5.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Public

Wind gusts were estimated to be near 70 MPH. A gustnado was also reported in the area.

Thunderstorm Wind in POLK, NEBRASKA
From 13-JUN-17 18:48:00 to 13-JUN-17 18:55:00 (CST-6)
Location: SWEDEHOME
Magnitude: 80.00 MG
Property damage: 75.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

An unofficial wind gust of 92 MPH was measured by a mesonet site 7 miles east of Clarks. Other reports from spotters and chasers estimated wind gusts between 60 and 80 MPH in the area. Large gustnadoes were reported crossing Highway 39.

Thunderstorm Wind in POLK, NEBRASKA
From 13-JUN-17 19:00:00 to 13-JUN-17 19:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: OSCEOLA
Magnitude: 60.00 EG
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Wind gusts were estimated to be around 65 MPH, knocking down large tree limbs, some up to around 12 inches in diameter. This was the first of 2 rounds of severe-criteria winds to affect Osceola.

Thunderstorm Wind in POLK, NEBRASKA
From 13-JUN-17 19:10:00 to 13-JUN-17 19:10:00 (CST-6)
Location: SHELBY
Magnitude: 60.00 MG
Property damage: 5.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

A personal weather station measured a 69 MPH gust.

Thunderstorm Wind in POLK, NEBRASKA
From 13-JUN-17 19:15:00 to 13-JUN-17 19:15:00 (CST-6)
Location: OSCEOLA
Magnitude: 56.00 EG
Property damage: 75.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: COOP Observer

This was the second round of wind gusts estimated near 65 MPH to affect Osceola this night. Between the 2 rounds, numerous large tree branches were downed in town, some blocking roadways.