Hail in Harlan County, Nebraska

South central Nebraska was under the south end of an upper level trough which was moving through the northern High Plains into the Dakotas. Temperatures across the area ranged from the mid 70s to lower 80s which was around the convective temperature needed for storms to develop. Atmospheric instability increased through the afternoon into the early evening hours. MLCAPE was up to 1500-2000 J/kg across the area but wind shear was fairly weak.

Scattered storms developed across portions of south central Nebraska during the afternoon of May 28th. These storms moved east and continued to develop and strengthen. The storms began producing quarter size hail just before 530 in Harlan County. Other hail reports were received in Harlan, Furnas, and Gosper Counties before 8 pm.