Scattered thunderstorms developed ahead of a cold front in a strong low level jet. In Southeast Iowa the storms organized into a small line and produced damage around the Fairfield, Iowa area.
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 episode as NWS DVN wrote it up.
Scattered thunderstorms developed ahead of a cold front in a strong low level jet. In Southeast Iowa the storms organized into a small line and produced damage around the Fairfield, Iowa area. However after this initial incident, all winds across the remainder of Southeast Iowa were well below severe limits. The storms also were prolific lightning producers and one strike downed a tree in Moline, Illinois.
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 Quad Cities, IA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 14, 2:30 AM CST, 3 hours 25 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL 330 AM CDT MON JUN 14 2004 .SYNOPSIS... WEAK SURFACE FRONT DRAPED FROM CENTRAL NEBRASKA ACROSS NORTHERN IOWA AND UP INTO CENTRAL WISCONSIN AS OF 06Z. ALSO A DECENT SHORT WAVE APPARENT ON SATELLITE OVER EASTERN SOUTH DAKOTA. AHEAD OF THE SHORT WAVE AND NEAR THE FRONT...AN INTERESTING CLUSTER OF STORMS HAS FORMED IN THE SOUTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA... NORTHEAST NEBRASKA...WESTERN IOWA AREA...AND SHOULD CONTINUE TO PUSH EAST TOWARDS THE CWA. BEST PRESSURE FALLS ARE ACROSS THE SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF THE CWA...SO EXPECT STRONGEST DEVELOPMENT TO BE THERE. SPC HAS ISSUED A WATCH FOR MOST OF IOWA...INCLUDING ALL BUT A FEW OF THE FAR EASTERN COUNTIES. THIS THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY SHOULD SLOWLY MOVE INTO THE AREA THIS MORNING...AND THEN CONTINUE FOR AT LEAST THE MORNING HOURS...IF NOT INTO EARLY AFTERNOON. && .SHORT TERM...(TODAY AND TONIGHT) HAVE ALREADY HALF DISCUSSED TODAY...WITH THE THUNDERSTORMS JUST MOVING INTO CWA THIS MORNING DUE TO AFFECT THE AREA MOST OF THE MORNING AND EARLY AFTERNOON. ONCE THESE MOVE THROUGH...EXPECT THAT THINGS WILL GET FAIRLY QUIET. THE FRONT WILL STILL BE IN THE VICINITY...BUT NO MID LEVEL VORT MAX...AND NO OTHER FEATURE TO FOSTER VERTICAL VELOCITYS. IF ANYTHING DEVELOPS BEHIND THE MORNINGS WAVE...IT WILL BE DIURNALLY DRIVEN AND VERY DISORGANIZED. IN SHORT...GARDEN VARIETY STORMS. BY TONIGHT...WITH NO SHORT WAVE...AND THE FRONT FINALLY APPEARING TO BE THROUGH THE AREA WITH GENERAL NORTHERLY WINDS ACROSS THE CWA...CONDITIONS SHOULD BE DRY. PERHAPS A BIT MUGGY WITH DEWPOINTS STILL IN THE 60S...BUT PROBABLY NOT WORTH MENTIONING...IT IS JUNE AFTER ALL. OTHERWISE...MAY COOL OFF GOING FORECAST MAX TEMPS TODAY A LITTLE FOR INCREASED CLOUD COVER AND RAIN...BUT OTHERWISE FEW CHANGES TO GOING FORECAST. ...LE... && .LONG TERM...(TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY)...TRANSITION FROM ACTIVE FAST ZONAL FLOW PATTERN TO MORE BENIGN AND SEASONABLY COOL CONDITIONS STILL ON TARGET WITH COLD FRONTAL PASSAGE EARLY WEDNESDAY. CHALLENGE STILL CENTERS ON PRECIP CHANCES THIS WEEK. TUESDAY STARTS OUT WITH WEAK SURFACE RIDGING OVER CWA THEN INCREASING SOUTHERLY FLOW AND LOW LEVEL MOISTURE RETURN AS STRONG MID LEVEL SHORTWAVE TROUGH MOVES INTO NORTHERN PLAINS. QG LIFT AND LOW LEVEL CONVERGENCE ALONG INVERTED TROUGH DOES NOT ARRIVE UNTIL WELL AFTER SUNSET AND WILL KEEP ONLY SLIGHT CHANCE POPS GOING FOR FAR NW IN AFTERNOON. TUESDAY NIGHT...MODELS IN CLOSE AGREEMENT WITH LOW LEVEL JET FEEDING AN MCS JUST UPSTREAM OF CWA WITH LARGE QPF BULLSEYES FROM N CENTRAL IA TO SOUTHERN NEB. STRONG CONVECTIVE VORTS AND REMNANTS OF MCS THEN TRACK EAST ACROSS CWA LATE NIGHT INTO WED MORNING. KEPT LIKELY POPS FOR NORTHWEST HALF TUESDAY NIGHT...THEN CHANCE POPS FOR ESPECIALLY FIRST HALF DAY WED. WITH HIGH AMOUNTS OF PRECIP H20...MAY HAVE HYDRO CONCERNS. FOLLOWING GFS/ETA BLEND...HIGH PRESSURE SETTLES SOUTH INTO CENTRAL PLAINS WED NIGHT PULLING COOLER AND DRIER AIRMASS INTO CWA. REMOVED POPS FROM THURSDAY NIGHT AS ACTIVE FRONT SHIFTS WELL TO SOUTH. TOWARD WEEKEND...LONG WAVE UPPER TROUGH APPROACHES FROM NORTHWEST WITH REINFORCING COLD FRONT DROPPING SOUTH OUT OF CANADA. GFS SENDS QPF NORTHEAST INTO SOUTHERN HALF CWA FRIDAY NIGHT INTO...BUT NOT ENOUGH CONFIDENCE OR LONG RANGE MODEL AGREEMENT WITH ITS MID LEVEL SHORTWAVE FOR ANYTHING ABOVE SLIGHT CHANCE POPS. ONLY MINOR CHANGES TO TEMPERATURES...WITH DIURNAL RANGE PRIMARILY FROM 50S TO 70S OVER WEEKEND. ...DLS... && .DVN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... IA...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 465 TIL 9 AM FOR ALL BUT 4 EASTERNMOST COUNTIES. IL...NONE. MO...NONE. && SHEETS/LE
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL 515 AM CDT MON JUN 14 2004 IAZ040>042-051>054-063>068-076>078-087>089-098-099-ILZ001-002-007- 009-015>018-024>026-034-035-MOZ009-010-151100- BENTON IA-BUCHANAN IA-BUREAU IL-CARROLL IL-CEDAR IA-CLARK MO- CLINTON IA-DELAWARE IA-DES MOINES IA-DUBUQUE IA-HANCOCK IL- HENDERSON IL-HENRY IA-HENRY IL-IOWA IA-JACKSON IA-JEFFERSON IA- JO DAVIESS IL-JOHNSON IA-JONES IA-KEOKUK IA-LEE IA-LINN IA-LOUISA IA- MCDONOUGH IL-MERCER IL-MUSCATINE IA-PUTNAM IL-ROCK ISLAND IL- SCOTLAND MO-SCOTT IA-STEPHENSON IL-VAN BUREN IA-WARREN IL- WASHINGTON IA-WHITESIDE IL- 515 AM CDT MON JUN 14 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTHEAST IOWA... EAST CENTRAL IOWA...SOUTHEAST IOWA...NORTHWEST ILLINOIS...NORTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS...WEST CENTRAL ILLINOIS AND NORTHEAST MISSOURI. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH FOR MUCH OF EASTERN IOWA UNTIL 9 AM THIS MORNING.... THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE ENTIRE OUTLOOK AREA TODAY. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE MOST LIKELY THIS MORNING SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 80 IN EASTERN IOWA. IN THIS AREA...STORMS MAY PRODUCE HAIL UP TO 1 INCH IN DIAMETER AND WIND GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH THROUGH MID MORNING. STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO ORGANIZE INTO A LARGE CLUSTER BY MID MORNING AND MOVE ACROSS MUCH OF THE OUTLOOK AREA WITH HEAVY RAINFALL...AND A LESSER THREAT OF DAMAGING WINDS...BEFORE EXITING THE AREA TO THE EAST BY NOON. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY ON TUESDAY THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK FOR SEVERE STORMS ACROSS MOST OF THE OUTLOOK AREA. THE BEST CHANCE FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE LATE TUESDAY NIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY MORNING WHEN A LARGE CLUSTER OF STORMS WILL MOVE ACROSS THE AREA. THE MAIN THREAT WILL BE LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS LATE TUESDAY NIGHT. STORMS MAY THEN PRODUCE WIDESPREAD HEAVY RAINFALL OVER PORTIONS OF THE AREA EARLY WEDNESDAY. THIS MAY CONTRIBUTE TO GENERAL RISES AND MINOR FLOODING OF TRIBUTARY RIVERS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THIS MORNING. DLS
The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 16 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 11:55 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck and downed a 50 foot walnut tree which blocked 52nd street between 8th and 9th Avenues.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Illinois in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyWarnings in Illinois, June 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: 5416466.