A fairly localized burst of strong to severe thunderstorms impacted western portions of South Central Nebraska on this Sunday evening. Primarily between 7-9:30 p.m. CDT, a cluster of intense convection tracked southeastward across much of Dawson County and into Phelps County before weakening below severe limits. All known severe-criteria reports emanated from the Lexington area, including quarter to golf ball size hail and unofficial mesonet-measured wind gusts up to 68 MPH. In Phelps County, all storm reports were slightly sub-severe, including small hail and measured wind gusts up to 54 MPH. Storms were progressive enough to keep rain totals solidly under 2 inches, and there were no reports of notable flooding.
Breaking down event evolution and meteorological background, it initially appeared that this event might have been more widespread/impactful than it ultimately was. However, a few rounds of earlier-day convection in the general region...one consisting of fairly widespread showers/non-severe storms across much of South Central Nebraska and another featuring localized severe storms/flooding in north central Kansas...teamed up to effectively disrupt/stabilize the environment across enough local counties to diminish the scope of evening convection. The first isolated, supercellular storms of the late afternoon actually fired up a bit northwest of the local area (within western/north central NE) and started tracking southeast. Just as storms started invading Dawson County around 7 p.m. CDT, consolidating outflows allowed convective mode to transition from discrete to more of a small-scale complex. Although Dawson was the only county in the local area with verified severe weather, for the second straight evening a severe storm narrowly missed western Furnas County...passing just to the west. Once the initial severe storm weakened over Phelps County around 9:30 p.m. CDT, the South Central Nebraska severe weather threat effectively ended for the night and the entire local area was storm-free by around midnight. In the mid-upper levels, this event was only modestly-forced, as the region resided under broad west-northwest flow containing various low amplitude disturbances, but with slightly stronger deep layer wind shear versus the preceding evening's round of severe storms (around 40 knots). There were no notable surface features in play, only a weak quasi-stationary front draped in west-east fashion across central NE. At the surface, afternoon temperatures in the Dawson County area topped out in the low 80s F with dewpoint averaging low-mid 60s, promoting decent mixed-layer CAPE of 1500-2000 J/kg as storms moved in.

Hail in DAWSON, NEBRASKA
From 05-JUN-22 18:35:00 to 05-JUN-22 18:35:00 (CST-6)
Location: DARR
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Thunderstorm Wind in DAWSON, NEBRASKA
From 05-JUN-22 19:03:00 to 05-JUN-22 19:03:00 (CST-6)
Location: LEXINGTON
Magnitude: 56.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

A wind gust of 64 MPH was measured by a mesonet station located three miles west-northwest of Lexington.

Hail in DAWSON, NEBRASKA
From 05-JUN-22 19:00:00 to 05-JUN-22 19:01:00 (CST-6)
Location: LEXINGTON
Magnitude: 1.75 
Property damage: 1.00M
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: CoCoRaHS

Thunderstorm Wind in DAWSON, NEBRASKA
From 05-JUN-22 19:15:00 to 05-JUN-22 19:15:00 (CST-6)
Location: LEXINGTON
Magnitude: 59.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

A wind gust of 68 MPH was measured by a mesonet station located three miles east of Lexington.