1 lightning, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Tulsa, OK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 13, 2:45 AM CST, 5 hours 15 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...MESOSCALE UPDATE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OKLAHOMA 345 AM CDT THU MAY 13 2004 CELL INTERACTIONS WITH THE BOUNDARY MOVING SOUTH ACROSS SOUTHERN TULSA COUNTY AND EXTREME EASTERN CREEK COUNTY HAS RESULTED IN PERSISTENT LOW-LEVEL ROTATION THAT HAS OCCASSIONALLY ORGANIZED ENOUGH TO POSE A TORNADO THREAT. THESE INTERACTIONS WILL LIKELY CYCLE SEVERAL TIMES...WITH SEVERAL CIRCULATIONS POSSIBLY DEVELOPING ACROSS SOUTHERN TULSA COUNTY. FORECAST ID= 08 .TSA WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AR...NONE. OK...NONE.
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK 500 AM CDT THU MAY 13 2004 ARZ001-002-010-011-019-020-029-OKZ049-053>076-132137- ADAIR OK-BENTON AR-CARROLL AR-CHEROKEE OK-CHOCTAW OK-CRAIG OK- CRAWFORD AR-CREEK OK-DELAWARE OK-FRANKLIN AR-HASKELL OK-LATIMER OK- LE FLORE OK-MADISON AR-MAYES OK-MCINTOSH OK-MUSKOGEE OK-NOWATA OK- OKFUSKEE OK-OKMULGEE OK-OSAGE OK-OTTAWA OK-PAWNEE OK-PITTSBURG OK- PUSHMATAHA OK-ROGERS OK-SEBASTIAN AR-SEQUOYAH OK-TULSA OK-WAGONER OK- WASHINGTON OK-WASHINGTON AR- 500 AM CDT THU MAY 13 2004 THIS OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL ARKANSAS AS WELL AS MUCH OF EASTERN OKLAHOMA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS LIKELY OVER PORTIONS OF EASTERN OKLAHOMA THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING... VERY MOIST AND MODERATELY UNSTABLE AIR WILL BE IN PLACE ACROSS THE REGION AS A COLD FRONT PUSHES INTO EASTERN OKLAHOMA THIS AFTERNOON. EXISTING OUTFLOW BOUNDARIES FROM EARLY MORNING CONVECTION WILL AID IN INITIATING STORMS AHEAD OF AND ALONG THE APPROACHING FRONT. STORMS SHOULD QUICKLY REACH SEVERE LIMITS. HOWEVER...MARGINAL SHEAR VALUES SHOULD LIMIT THE THREAT FOR TORNADOS. HAIL...HIGH WINDS...AND HEAVY RAINFALL WILL BE THE MAIN THREATS WITH THIS SYSTEM. THE GREATEST THREAT FOR SEVERE STORMS...ALONG WITH TRAINING OF STORMS WITH HEAVY RAINFALL...APPEARS TO BE IN AN AREA SOUTHWEST OF A LINE FROM PAWNEE...TO PITTSBURG...TO CHOCTAW COUNTIES. BY EVENING...THE ACTIVITY SHOULD EVOLVE INTO A STRONG TO SEVERE CONVECTIVE COMPLEX WHICH WILL SWEEP ACROSS MOST OF EASTERN OKLAHOMA AND NORTHWEST ARKANSAS BY SUNRISE FRIDAY. AGAIN...THE MAIN THREAT FROM THIS WILL BE HAIL...HIGH WINDS...AND HEAVY RAINFALL. WARNING PROBABILITIES FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS AND TORNADOES CAN BE FOUND IN THE CURRENT HAZARDS SECTION AT: WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/TULSA. GIVEN PROBABILITIES REPRESENT THE POTENTIAL FOR A WARNING TO BE ISSUED AT YOUR LOCATION. SPOTTER / EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ACTION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL LIKELY BE REQUIRED LATER TODAY. EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL SHOULD CONTINUE TO CLOSELY MONITOR THE LATEST WEATHER CONDITIONS THIS AFTERNOON. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED. WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/TULSA CONTAINS ADDITIONAL TABULAR AND GRAPHICAL INFORMATION
The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 117 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 14:00 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
A man was struck by lightning while he was helping someone repair a car window. He was taken to the hospital where tests concluded he did not suffer any major damage. He did, however, suffer some vision problems and some pain in his joints during the next day or so.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Arkansas in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyWarnings in Arkansas, May 2004
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5421805.