This was an active Tuesday afternoon and evening of thunderstorms across much of South Central Nebraska, although all verified severe weather concentrated within counties south of Interstate 80. There were several reports of large hail (up to baseball size), damaging winds (up to around 70 MPH), a few pockets of very heavy rainfall into mainly the 3-5 range, and one brief EF-0 tornado. This tornado, which exhibited multi-vortex structure along its short path, was caught on video by a storm chaser near Huntley in eastern Harlan County around 5:45 p.m. CDT. Shortly before dropping the tornado, this high-precipitation (HP) supercell storm also yielded tennis ball to baseball size hail several miles north of Orleans. Other notable hail reports on this day included 2 diameter stones near Franklin and ping pong ball size near Blue Hill. As for damaging winds, the highest measured gusts (unofficial sources) featured 71 MPH near Carleton and 63 MPH near Holbrook. At least minor tree/branch damage was reported in or near Cambridge and Naponee, and power lines were blown down near Republican City. Rainfall-wise, the majority of the 24-county area received at least 1 of mostly-welcomed rainfall. However, there were generally four distinct zones that got drenched with noticeably higher amounts of at least 3-4, and locally more. These included portions of the following counties: much of southern/eastern Thayer; much of northern Furnas and adjacent portions of Gosper/Phelps/Harlan; parts of northern Nuckolls/southern Clay; and parts of northeastern York. A few of the highest official 24-hour totals (NWS coop and CoCoRaHS observers) featured: 5.14 northeast of Chester, 4.52 near Deweese, 3.86 in Edison and 3.80 in Hubbell. There was also an unofficial report of a whopping 7 south of Gilead in far southeast Thayer County. Although there were surely several instances of fairly minor flooding and even brief flash flooding, ground truth reports were rather limited.
Breaking down event evolution/timing, the first strong to severe storms of the afternoon fired up between 3:30-5:00 p.m. CDT on opposite ends of the local area, with one cluster in Thayer County and the other centered over Furnas County. During the next couple hours, intense multicell convection gradually connected the gap between the original two clusters, eventually resulting in one semi-organized band. However, during this same time, the most intense storm of the day took center stage as an embedded HP supercell tracked across much of Harlan and southern Franklin counties, producing very large hail and the aforementioned brief tornado. Between 7 p.m. CDT and nightfall, convection expanded in areal coverage to encompass most all of South Central Nebraska, while the overall severe weather threat diminished. However, around 9 p.m. CDT another cluster of vigorous convection rolled in from the west, yielding a few reports of marginally-severe winds in Furnas County. These were the last severe reports of the evening, with only a large shield of mainly light to moderate rain persisting well past midnight, while gradually ending from west-to-east.
Closing with some meteorological background, this was a well-anticipated round of severe storms and heavy rainfall, as low-amplitude shortwave energy tracked into Nebraska around the southeast periphery of a larger-scale trough/closed low centered over the Northern Rockies. At the surface, a fairly well-defined and generally west-east oriented quasi-stationary front stretched near the Nebraska-Kansas-border, with the majority of South Central Nebraska residing just north of this boundary in an environment characterized by east-northeast breezes, afternoon temperatures in the 80s F and dewpoints in the upper 60s-low 70s F. During the height of severe storm development, the mesoscale environment featured between 30-50 knots of deep-layer wind shear and mixed-layer CAPE of 2000-3000 J/kg.

Tornado in HARLAN, NEBRASKA
From 19-JUN-18 16:42:00 to 19-JUN-18 16:43:00 (CST-6)
Location: HUNTLEY
Tornado F-scale: EF0
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: NWS Storm Survey

A multiple vortex tornado occurred along a short path. Maximum wind was estimated to be 70 MPH, and no significant damage was reported. The path and tornado characteristics were estimated according to a storm chaser video, reports, and radar information.

Thunderstorm Wind in FRANKLIN, NEBRASKA
From 19-JUN-18 17:15:00 to 19-JUN-18 17:15:00 (CST-6)
Location: NAPONEE
Magnitude: 51.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

There was a report of small branches downed in the Naponee area.

Thunderstorm Wind in THAYER, NEBRASKA
From 19-JUN-18 17:15:00 to 19-JUN-18 17:15:00 (CST-6)
Location: CARLETON
Magnitude: 62.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Thunderstorm Wind in FURNAS, NEBRASKA
From 19-JUN-18 20:27:00 to 19-JUN-18 20:27:00 (CST-6)
Location: EDISON
Magnitude: 52.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in THAYER, NEBRASKA
From 19-JUN-18 14:54:00 to 19-JUN-18 14:54:00 (CST-6)
Location: ALEXANDRIA
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in THAYER, NEBRASKA
From 19-JUN-18 15:30:00 to 19-JUN-18 15:30:00 (CST-6)
Location: GILEAD
Magnitude: 1.25 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in THAYER, NEBRASKA
From 19-JUN-18 16:19:00 to 19-JUN-18 16:19:00 (CST-6)
Location: DESHLER
Magnitude: 0.75 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in THAYER, NEBRASKA
From 19-JUN-18 16:25:00 to 19-JUN-18 16:25:00 (CST-6)
Location: DESHLER
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Social Media

Hail in HARLAN, NEBRASKA
From 19-JUN-18 16:35:00 to 19-JUN-18 16:35:00 (CST-6)
Location: ALMA
Magnitude: 0.88 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Public

Hail in HARLAN, NEBRASKA
From 19-JUN-18 16:40:00 to 19-JUN-18 16:40:00 (CST-6)
Location: ALMA
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Social Media

Hail in THAYER, NEBRASKA
From 19-JUN-18 16:45:00 to 19-JUN-18 16:45:00 (CST-6)
Location: DESHLER
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Fire Department/Rescue

Hail in KEARNEY, NEBRASKA
From 19-JUN-18 16:50:00 to 19-JUN-18 16:50:00 (CST-6)
Location: AXTELL
Magnitude: 1.25 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Storm Chaser

Heavy Rain in PHELPS, NEBRASKA
From 19-JUN-18 15:00:00 to 20-JUN-18 02:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: HOLDREGE ARPT
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: AWOS

A storm total rainfall amount of 3.54 inches occurred at the AWOS at the Holdrege Airport.

Heavy Rain in NUCKOLLS, NEBRASKA
From 19-JUN-18 16:00:00 to 20-JUN-18 03:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: ANGUS
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: CoCoRaHS

Storm total rainfall amounts of 3 to 5 inches were common across the county, including 4.52 inches five miles south southeast of Deweese, and 3.90 inches recorded three miles south of Edgar.

Heavy Rain in FURNAS, NEBRASKA
From 19-JUN-18 14:00:00 to 20-JUN-18 01:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: EDISON
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: CoCoRaHS

A storm total rainfall amount of 3.86 inches occurred in Edison and 3.30 inches occurred two miles east-southeast of Cambridge.

Heavy Rain in HARLAN, NEBRASKA
From 19-JUN-18 15:00:00 to 20-JUN-18 02:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: ORLEANS
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: CoCoRaHS

A storm total rainfall amount of 3.70 inches three miles northeast of Stamford, 3.48 inches occurred two miles east of Stamford, 3.25 inches occurred 3 miles north of Alma, 3.02 inches occurred in Orleans.

Heavy Rain in SHERMAN, NEBRASKA
From 19-JUN-18 17:00:00 to 20-JUN-18 04:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: LOUP CITY
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: CoCoRaHS

A storm total rainfall amount of 3.36 inches occurred five miles north-northwest of Sherman Reservoir, and 3.15 inches occurred two miles west of Loup City.

Heavy Rain in THAYER, NEBRASKA
From 19-JUN-18 14:00:00 to 20-JUN-18 03:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: HUBBELL
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: COOP Observer

A CoCoRahs report of a storm total rainfall amount of 5.14 inches occurred three miles northeast of Chester, and a cooperative observer measured 3.80 inches in Hubbell.

Heavy Rain in VALLEY, NEBRASKA
From 19-JUN-18 17:00:00 to 20-JUN-18 04:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: NORTH LOUP
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: CoCoRaHS

A storm total rainfall amount of 3.24 inches occurred six miles west-northwest of North Loup.

Hail in HARLAN, NEBRASKA
From 19-JUN-18 16:30:00 to 19-JUN-18 16:30:00 (CST-6)
Location: ORLEANS
Magnitude: 2.75 
Property damage: 100.00K
Crop damage: 1.00M
Reported by: Public

Tennis ball to baseball size hail was reported.

Thunderstorm Wind in HARLAN, NEBRASKA
From 19-JUN-18 16:46:00 to 19-JUN-18 16:46:00 (CST-6)
Location: REPUBLICAN CITY
Magnitude: 61.00 EG
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Public

Power lines were blown over due to a rear flank downdraft.

Hail in FRANKLIN, NEBRASKA
From 19-JUN-18 17:23:00 to 19-JUN-18 17:23:00 (CST-6)
Location: FRANKLIN
Magnitude: 1.75 
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 175.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in FRANKLIN, NEBRASKA
From 19-JUN-18 17:35:00 to 19-JUN-18 17:35:00 (CST-6)
Location: FRANKLIN
Magnitude: 2.00 
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 200.00K
Reported by: Storm Chaser

Hail in WEBSTER, NEBRASKA
From 19-JUN-18 17:38:00 to 19-JUN-18 17:38:00 (CST-6)
Location: BLUE HILL
Magnitude: 1.50 
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 150.00K
Reported by: COOP Observer

Flash Flood in THAYER, NEBRASKA
From 19-JUN-18 18:00:00 to 19-JUN-18 22:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: CHESTER
Flood cause: Heavy Rain
Property damage: 15.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Fire Department/Rescue

The Hubbell Fire Chief reported water over the road near the intersection of Highway 8 and 6200 Road, located two miles east of Chester. There was also on unofficial report of 7 inches of rain five miles south-southeast of Gilead.

Thunderstorm Wind in FURNAS, NEBRASKA
From 19-JUN-18 20:11:00 to 19-JUN-18 20:12:00 (CST-6)
Location: CAMBRIDGE
Magnitude: 55.00 MG
Property damage: 15.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

A wind gust of 63 MPH was measured by a trained spotter at 9:11 PM CDT 3 miles west of Holbrook. In the Cambridge area, wind gusts were estimated to be near 60 MPH, resulting in several small tree branches being downed.