Intense lightning show from severe storms across SE Nebraska

BEATRICE – Early Thursday morning thunderstorms brought intense lightning, high winds and hail to southern Nebraska…..touching off severe thunderstorm warnings for several counties.  Among counties included were Jefferson, Saline, Gage, Pawnee, Johnson, Otoe and Nemaha.

One National Weather Service spotter report told of tennis ball sized hail about a mile northwest of Fairbury….reported just before five a.m.

Much earlier Thursday morning, southwest Nebraskas was hit by severe weather.

A spotter near Benkelman in far southwest Nebraska reported larger than baseball-sized hail….about three-and-a-quarter inches in diameter.  Hail between the size of baseballs and grapefruit was reported near Wilsonville, Nebraska, southeast of McCook.  Numerous windows were broken there and tree limbs snapped. 

Broken windows and downed power lines were reported at Trenton, in southwest Nebraska.  Golfball sized hail at Swanson Reservoir caused window and camper damage.

Storms crawled along the Nebraska-Kansas border at about thirty miles per hour, eventually moving into northwest Missouri.

Thunderstorm wind gusts have been reported in the -upper 50 to lower 60-mile-per-hour range.