The vast majority of South Central Nebraska experienced very little (if any) notable weather on this Friday. However, there were a couple of significant exceptions, as heavy rains caused extensive flooding in parts of Valley County and a lone severe storm with damaging winds and large hail brushed far western portions of Dawson and Furnas counties. Going into more detail, and starting with the Valley County situation, a small-but-persistent cluster of heavy showers/non-severe storms dumped a roughly 5-10 mile wide swath of heavy rain on northwestern and south central portions of the county, mainly between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. CDT. These areas received a widespread 2-4 with isolated pockets as high as 5-7, including an unofficial public report of 6.25 nine miles west-southwest of Elyria. Within a few hours after the onset of heavy rain, several rural roads were flooded/washed out, and small creeks such as Turtle Creek spilled out of their banks. An NeRAIN observer southwest of Elyria commented that Turtle Creek flooding was worse than what occurred during the historic March 2019 floods. By the evening and overnight hours, flooding also ramped up on Mira Creek south of Ord, including a bridge washout on a paved county road. During the pre-dawn hours of the 3rd, Mira Creek flooding reached the town of North Loup, prompting mainly minor water issues on the north side of town. Turning to the severe storm aspect of the day (and completely separate from the Valley County flooding), an isolated severe storm tracked almost due south over the western fringes of Dawson and Furnas counties between 6:30-9:30 p.m. CDT, affecting the Gothenburg and Cambridge areas. Near Gothenburg, a mesonet clocked a 66 MPH gust and a flag pole was bent over. A bit later, trained spotters just west of Cambridge reported hail up to golf ball size and a measured wind gust of 71 MPH, with a few power poles downed on Highway 6/34.
In the big picture of the mid-upper levels, forcing was nebulous over the Central Plains as subtle waves passed through northwesterly flow, directed around the edge of an expansive ridge centered over New Mexico. Most notably for the Valley County flooding, precipitable water values averaged nearly 2, fostering impressive rainfall rates in low-topped cells. For the evening severe storm in Dawson/Furnas counties, mesoscale parameters featured around 1500 J/kg mixed-layer CAPE and 35 knots of deep-layer wind shear. At the surface, a nondescript pattern existed over South Central Nebraska, with light southerly-to-easterly breezes and dewpoints in the upper 60s to around 70 F.