Severe weather only clipped the far southeastern fringes of the 24-county South Central Nebraska area on this Friday afternoon, but it was an active few hours within especially Thayer County as an initially-isolated severe storm gradually grew upscale into more of a linear complex as it rumbled eastward across much of the county before departing the local area into southeast Nebraska. Although penny size hail was reported at Oak in Nuckolls County shortly after convective initiation, all severe-criteria reports emanated from Thayer County, highlighted by: hail up to ping pong ball size about halfway between Davenport and Deshler; estimated 65 MPH wind gusts along with pea to ping pong ball size hail in the Gilead area, including a social media report of a swath of corn and soybean crops at least 50 percent defoliated.
This storm first developed/intensified over eastern Nuckolls County around 4 p.m. CDT,  along a well-defined late summer cold front gradually progressing across the region from west-to-east. During the next two hours, it first drifted northeast but then turned more east, primarily impacting northern and eastern section of Thayer County (and possibly extreme southern Fillmore County) along the way before fully departing the eastern fringes of the local area by 6:30 p.m. CDT. While the storm initially exhibited some supercell characteristics, including a brief wall cloud reported by emergency management, it gradually grew upscale/linear across the eastern half of Thayer County (the beginning stages of a larger-scale squall line that impacted parts of southeast Nebraska/northeast Kansas). In the mid-upper levels, forcing was seasonably-decent, with South Central Nebraska receiving a glancing blow from a potent, negatively-tilted shortwave trough swinging northeastward across the Dakotas during the afternoon-evening. However, the aforementioned surface cold front was the main synoptic feature in play, trailing southward through the far eastern portions of South Central Nebraska at mid-afternoon from a deepening 1000-millibar low pressure center over eastern ND. Along and just ahead of this front a very unstable airmass awaited, with the surface temperature/dewpoint in Hebron at 4 p.m. CDT registering 90/77 (F). Around this same time, mesoscale parameters featured 3000-4000 J/kg mixed-layer CAPE and 30-40 knots of deep-layer wind shear.

Hail in THAYER, NEBRASKA
From 20-AUG-21 16:40:00 to 20-AUG-21 16:50:00 (CST-6)
Location: GILEAD
Magnitude: 1.50 
Property damage: 100.00K
Crop damage: 3.00M
Reported by: Social Media

A social media report stated that wind gusts near 65 MPH, combined with pea to approximately ping pong ball sized hail, resulted in corn and beans being defoliated by at least 50 percent near Gilead.

Hail in NUCKOLLS, NEBRASKA
From 20-AUG-21 15:10:00 to 20-AUG-21 15:10:00 (CST-6)
Location: OAK
Magnitude: 0.75 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in THAYER, NEBRASKA
From 20-AUG-21 15:36:00 to 20-AUG-21 15:36:00 (CST-6)
Location: DAVENPORT
Magnitude: 1.50 
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Social Media

Hail in THAYER, NEBRASKA
From 20-AUG-21 16:25:00 to 20-AUG-21 16:25:00 (CST-6)
Location: BELVIDERE
Magnitude: 0.88 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Public

Thunderstorm Wind in THAYER, NEBRASKA
From 20-AUG-21 16:40:00 to 20-AUG-21 16:50:00 (CST-6)
Location: GILEAD
Magnitude: 56.00 EG
Property damage: 100.00K
Crop damage: 3.00M
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Wind gusts were estimated to be at least 65 MPH along this path. A social media report stated the wind, combined with pea to approximately ping pong ball sized hail, resulted in corn and beans being defoliated by at least 50 percent near Gilead.