On this late Sunday afternoon and evening, several scattered, strong to severe storms advanced southward across various portions of South Central Nebraska, prompting many accounts of large hail and a few damaging wind gusts. While most hail was in the quarter to golf ball size range, larger stones of 2-3 diameter fell in the Chapman and Marquette areas of Merrick/Hamilton counties. Ping pong to golf ball size hail occurred in or near the following communities/locations: Fullerton, Amherst, Orleans, Harlan County Lake, Naponee and Deweese. In the Tri Cities, only Grand Island saw severe weather, as two rounds of quarter to half dollar size hail moved through, one mainly affecting the north side of town (including the airport) around 6 p.m. CDT, and another about an hour later that clipped more of the city. As for thunderstorm winds, the vast majority of gusts captured by area sensors were non-severe (generally 40-50 MPH), but there were two reports estimated around 60 MPH, one near Hampton and another at Hebron, where a few large trees were downed and a store front sustained minor damage. Given fairly progressive storm motions, rainfall totals in most affected areas were less than 1 inch during the afternoon/evening. However, combined with localized heavy rain that fell during a separate round of early morning/non-severe activity, portions of mainly eastern Clay County registered over 3 for the day (including NWS coop observer total of 3.33 six miles east-southeast of Clay Center). As a result, the later-day storms prompted some isolated flash flooding, as School Creek overtopped the paved spur road south of Saronville.
This event was characterized by truly scattered, hit-or-miss convection, as afternoon heating and subtle convergence along/ahead of a weak cold front sagging southward into the region prompted several strong to severe storms, mainly in the form of multicells/multicell clusters, but also a few brief supercells. Nearly every county in the 24-county area observed at least a touch of thunderstorm activity. That being said, the majority of ground-truth reports concentrated in two primary areas: 1) parts of Hall/Hamilton/Merrick counties...2) a swath from eastern Furnas to far southwestern Franklin counties. A few of the first severe storms of the event flared up over Furnas/Buffalo counties between 430-530 p.m. CDT, and the final severe storm of the evening was centered over the Nuckolls County area before weakening around 9 p.m. CDT. Thereafter, a smattering of strong storms lingered within counties south of Interstate 80 through around 10:30 pm. CDT before all convection ended for the night. In total, 19 Severe Thunderstorm Warnings were issued within South Central Nebraska over the course of over four hours. Digging deeper into the meteorological setup, it's worth noting that this event exceeded forecast expectations, especially in terms of the number of severe storms. This was due in part to greater-than-expected convective instability, as afternoon surface dewpoints soared into the upper 60s-low 70 F,  promoting significant mixed-layer CAPE of at least 3000-4000 J/kg. In tandem with deep layer wind shear around 35 knots, this CAPE/shear combo proved plenty sufficient for robust convection. In the mid-upper levels, a pronounced north-northwest flow regime resided over the Central Plains, within the interface between a stout western United States ridge and a broad eastern trough.

Hail in NANCE, NEBRASKA
From 16-AUG-20 16:53:00 to 16-AUG-20 16:53:00 (CST-6)
Location: FULLERTON
Magnitude: 1.50 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Social Media

Hail in HALL, NEBRASKA
From 16-AUG-20 17:00:00 to 16-AUG-20 17:13:00 (CST-6)
Location: (GRI)GRAND IS RGNL A
Magnitude: 1.50 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Other Federal Agency

Hail of half dollar to ping pong ball size was reported along this path. Half dollar size hail was reported by Central Nebraska Regional Airport personnel from 6:06-6:13 PM CDT.

Hail in MERRICK, NEBRASKA
From 16-AUG-20 17:20:00 to 16-AUG-20 17:20:00 (CST-6)
Location: CHAPMAN
Magnitude: 3.00 
Property damage: 125.00K
Crop damage: 1.00M
Reported by: Social Media

Hail in HAMILTON, NEBRASKA
From 16-AUG-20 17:30:00 to 16-AUG-20 17:30:00 (CST-6)
Location: MARQUETTE
Magnitude: 3.00 
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 1.00M
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in HAMILTON, NEBRASKA
From 16-AUG-20 17:32:00 to 16-AUG-20 17:32:00 (CST-6)
Location: MURPHY
Magnitude: 1.75 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in MERRICK, NEBRASKA
From 16-AUG-20 17:32:00 to 16-AUG-20 17:34:00 (CST-6)
Location: CENTRAL CITY
Magnitude: 1.25 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Fire Department/Rescue

Hail in HAMILTON, NEBRASKA
From 16-AUG-20 17:45:00 to 16-AUG-20 17:50:00 (CST-6)
Location: MARQUETTE
Magnitude: 2.00 
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 1.00M
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail ranging in size from half dollars to 2 inches in diameter was reported along this path.

Hail in HAMILTON, NEBRASKA
From 16-AUG-20 17:59:00 to 16-AUG-20 17:59:00 (CST-6)
Location: HAMPTON
Magnitude: 1.75 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Thunderstorm Wind in HAMILTON, NEBRASKA
From 16-AUG-20 18:03:00 to 16-AUG-20 18:03:00 (CST-6)
Location: HAMPTON
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.

Hail in HALL, NEBRASKA
From 16-AUG-20 18:16:00 to 16-AUG-20 18:25:00 (CST-6)
Location: GRAND IS
Magnitude: 1.25 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Public

Hail up to half dollar size fell across parts of Grand Island.

Hail in THAYER, NEBRASKA
From 16-AUG-20 18:45:00 to 16-AUG-20 18:45:00 (CST-6)
Location: BRUNING
Magnitude: 1.25 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Public

Hail in FURNAS, NEBRASKA
From 16-AUG-20 16:05:00 to 16-AUG-20 16:05:00 (CST-6)
Location: HOLLINGER
Magnitude: 1.75 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in HARLAN, NEBRASKA
From 16-AUG-20 16:35:00 to 16-AUG-20 17:05:00 (CST-6)
Location: ORLEANS
Magnitude: 1.75 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail ranging in size from quarters to golf balls was reported along this path.

Hail in BUFFALO, NEBRASKA
From 16-AUG-20 16:53:00 to 16-AUG-20 16:53:00 (CST-6)
Location: AMHERST
Magnitude: 1.75 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Thunderstorm Wind in THAYER, NEBRASKA
From 16-AUG-20 18:49:00 to 16-AUG-20 18:49:00 (CST-6)
Location: HEBRON
Magnitude: 52.00 EG
Property damage: 75.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Wind gusts estimated to be near 60 MPH downed two large trees and damaged one store front.

Hail in CLAY, NEBRASKA
From 16-AUG-20 19:39:00 to 16-AUG-20 19:39:00 (CST-6)
Location: DEWEESE
Magnitude: 1.75 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Flash Flood in CLAY, NEBRASKA
From 16-AUG-20 19:00:00 to 17-AUG-20 00:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: SARONVILLE
Flood cause: Heavy Rain
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

A state maintained paved road approximately 1 mile south of Saronville was under water from School Creek. A nearby NWS Cooperative Observer located 6 miles east-southeast of Clay Center reported a 24-total rainfall total of 3.33 inches.

Hail in FRANKLIN, NEBRASKA
From 16-AUG-20 17:15:00 to 16-AUG-20 17:15:00 (CST-6)
Location: NAPONEE
Magnitude: 1.75 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: CoCoRaHS