BEATRICE – Large hail was the primary threat from strong thunderstorms that affected southeast Nebraska and northeast Kansas overnight. 

Weather spotters reported golf ball to tennis ball sized hail at Auburn, Johnson and near Nebraska City. 

Several witness reports of half-dollar to golf ball-sized hail were received in northeast Kansas, around Marysville, Beattie, Summerfield and Baileyville. 

Heavy rain of up to three to five inches was reported across parts of the two states, resulting in flood advisories being issued by the National Weather Service for the early part of Thursday.  Thunderstorm wind gusts of 50-to-70 miles per hour occurred across a wide region of the central plains.

A storm chasing team photographed a likely tornado, southwest of Sidney, Iowa….near the Iowa-Nebraska border.  Another tornado was reported five miles east of Macedonia, Iowa….to the east of Council Bluffs.