Hail in Butler County, Nebraska

Emergency management report of hail estimated at 1.75 inches in diameter with lots of quarter sized hail mixed in. Hail caused damage to vinyl siding.

During the morning and afternoon hours of April 15th, 2026, an upper-level wave ejected northward into the central Plains, pushing an attendant surface low pressure system from southeast Nebraska northeastward into central Iowa. This system pulled a warm sector northward into eastern Nebraska and southwest Iowa, interacting with a weak convergent boundary draped generally along and just north of the Interstate 80 corridor. Driven by afternoon high temperatures peaking in the 70s, instability increased through the day, with a narrow ribbon of surface-based CAPE (SBCAPE) values exceeding 2,500 J/kg wrapping into the mid-Missouri River Valley. Under the influence of this unstable and highly sheared environment, two elevated severe supercells tracked across eastern Nebraska into southwest Iowa.

The first severe cell tracked generally from Schuyler, Nebraska, east-northeastward into Dunlap, Iowa. This storm produced several reports of quarter-sized (one inch in diameter) hail along its track. As the storm moved through Harrison County, Iowa, it intensified further, producing golf-ball-sized hail (1.75 inches in diameter) and wind-driven hail damage in Dunlap.

The second supercell developed northwest of Seward, Nebraska, and tracked northeastward to Wahoo, Nebraska, before gradually weakening as it approached the northern side of the Omaha metropolitan area. Notable severe reports from this storm included two-inch in diameter hail south-southwest of Dwight, Nebraska, and golf-ball-sized hail (1.75 inches in diameter) within Dwight itself, which resulted in visual damage to residential vinyl siding.