A severe storm produced wind gusts up to 88 mph at the Central Nebraska Regional Airport in Grand Island late on this Saturday evening. Around 5 PM CST, a small thunderstorm formed southwest of O'Neill. Over the following two hours, other storms formed nearby resulting in the development of a small multicell cluster of storms. Between 8 and 11 PM CST, this cluster moved southeast from the Valley-Greeley county border across Grand Island to western Hamilton county. During its journey, the cluster merged with another storm over Howard county just after 9 PM CST, and between 930 and 1015 PM CST, the cluster exhibited some bowing. This coincided with the time it affected Grand Island. These storms produced pockets of severe hail and wind damage along portions of the Valley-Greeley county line, on the northeast and east side of Grand Island and over southwestern Hamilton county. The largest hail was the size of ping pong balls and golf balls. A grain bin was blown off its foundation and across a road east of Ord, and several tree branches, some of which were very large, were snapped off in Grand Island and the town of Giltner. The storm cluster weakened after it moved out of Hamilton county.
As was the case on many days in this persistent late-month pattern, there was no obvious trigger for these storms. High pressure extended from southern Alberta to Pennsylvania. The previous front that moved through on Wednesday the 25th was stationary from the Gulf Coast across Texas into Colorado and the Northern Rockies. In the upper-levels, a subtropical high was over the Desert Southwest and a low was near James Bay, Canada. Low-amplitude, cyclonic west-northwest flow was over the Central Plains. Preceding the storms, temperatures had dropped to near 70 degrees, while dewpoints were in the middle 60s. Mid-level lapse rates were near 7 C/km with MUCAPE around 2000 J/kg. With unusually strong winds aloft, deep layer shear was near 45 kt.

Hail in VALLEY, NEBRASKA
From 28-JUL-18 20:00:00 to 28-JUL-18 20:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: ORD
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Social Media

Hail in HAMILTON, NEBRASKA
From 28-JUL-18 22:28:00 to 28-JUL-18 22:28:00 (CST-6)
Location: GILTNER
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Fire Department/Rescue

Thunderstorm Wind in VALLEY, NEBRASKA
From 28-JUL-18 20:10:00 to 28-JUL-18 20:10:00 (CST-6)
Location: ORD
Magnitude: 61.00 EG
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Social Media

An empty grain bin was blown from the north side of a rural road to the south side.

Hail in GREELEY, NEBRASKA
From 28-JUL-18 20:37:00 to 28-JUL-18 20:39:00 (CST-6)
Location: SCOTIA
Magnitude: 1.50 
Property damage: 100.00K
Crop damage: 3.00M
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail up the size of half dollars was reported.

Thunderstorm Wind in HAMILTON, NEBRASKA
From 28-JUL-18 22:24:00 to 28-JUL-18 22:24:00 (CST-6)
Location: GILTNER
Magnitude: 52.00 EG
Property damage: 15.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Public

Some minor tree damage was reported in town.

Hail in HALL, NEBRASKA
From 28-JUL-18 21:52:00 to 28-JUL-18 21:52:00 (CST-6)
Location: GRAND IS
Magnitude: 1.75 
Property damage: 75.00K
Crop damage: 3.00M
Reported by: Trained Spotter

This storm also produced wind gusts of 80 MPH and 88 MPH, recorded by the Grand Island Airport ASOS.

Thunderstorm Wind in HALL, NEBRASKA
From 28-JUL-18 21:46:00 to 28-JUL-18 21:53:00 (CST-6)
Location: (GRI)GRAND IS RGNL A
Magnitude: 76.00 MG
Property damage: 75.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: ASOS

Wind gusts of at least 60 MPH were reported, with the Grand Island Airport ASOS recording peak gusts of 80 MPH at 10:47 PM CDT and 88 MPH at 10:49 PM CDT. There was tree damage reported on the north and east sides of Grand Island, including several downed large tree branches and a tree approximately 14 inches in diameter being snapped off. At the airport, tree and minor outbuilding damage was reported. This storm also included up to golf ball size hail.