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Large hail decimates crops across Nebraska and Kansas

Several rounds of large hail and damaging winds have destroyed some crops across a pair of states in the Great Plains.

Southwest Nebraska rancher Logan Pribbeno tells Brownfield his corn crop that’s about an hour from Colorado missed the brunt of a recent storm.  “It took the top-end yield off, maybe 5 percent yield reduction. It’s pretty spotty.  There are some guys that have more significant hail damage than that.”  

And, he says, there was some minor flooding in June. “It’s rained just about every other day since.  It’s definitely a drought-breaker. I think we had more than six inches of rain over the course of 10 days.”

Brownfield Meteorologist Greg Soulje says it’s not unusual for farmers in Nebraska and Kansas to face severe weather in June and July. “You just don’t get these storms to move along at a very good pace. You come up with either 10 drops of rain or 5-10 inches of rain and dime-size hail or baseball or softball-size hail.  It runs that gamut.”  

More severe weather is forecasted in the Great Plains this week.