Note to parents of Lincoln high school seniors graduating Saturday: If you have an outdoor party planned, have a backup location ready.

If you slept through the early morning thunder and rain, you'll find that the back yard is already soaked: Lincoln received 1.72 inches of rain after midnight, making a sizable dent in the 6.6 inch precipitation deficit for the year.

But chances are good for more rain Saturday, and more could fall on Sunday's graduation parties as well.

There's a 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1 p.m., and storms are likely Saturday night. Hail and damaging winds are possible, the National Weather Service said. A high in the low 80s is predicted.

Severe storms fired clear across the state Friday night into Saturday morning.

The weather service said a supercell produced a strong tornado in open country about 40 miles southwest of Scottsbluff. In Keith County, north of Paxton, firefighters reported a tornado on the ground and radar tracked a possible tornado south of North Platte near Lake Maloney.

There were no reports of damage from any of the tornadoes, but there were scattered reports of damage from straight winds. Winds near 70 mph were reported between Kearney and Grand Island. A metal building was destroyed in Shelton about 10:50 p.m., according to Buffalo County Emergency Management, and large branches were reported down in Gibbon.

A trained spotter said power line transformers were exploding two miles west of Shelton, apparently due to strong straight winds.

Heavy rain and large hail - as large as golf balls, hen's eggs, even baseballs - was reported in many counties. The heaviest rainfall report so far was 3.25 inches in Buffalo County. The Grand Island area received 2.35 inches and 2.51 inches fell north of Dannebrog.

Golfball-size hail two inches deep was reported covering the ground in Wood River west of Grand Island.

Hail 2.75 inches in diameter was reported southeast of Hershey in Lincoln County. Hail stones 1.25 inches in diameter were reported northwest of Swanton in Saline County.

Other rainfall totals included:

- Elkhorn, 2.45 inches

- Milford, 2 inches

- Broken Bow, 2.05 inches

- Arcadia, 3 inches

- Near McCool Junction, 1.85 inches

- Near Genoa, 1.77 inches