Hail and Damaging Wind in Indiana, May 18, 2004

Name: Hail and Damaging Wind in Indiana, May 18, 2004
Start: 2004-05-18T18:17
End: 2004-05-18T18:48
Location: Indiana

May 18, 2004 · NWS ILN · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

1 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $2,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

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.

What forecasters said that day

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 Wilmington, OH wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 18, 2:27 PM EST, 3 hours 50 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 18, 2:27 PM EST, 3 hours 50 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OH
327 PM EDT TUE MAY 18 2004

.DISCUSSION...
A COLD FRONT WAS POSITIONED ACROSS NORTHERN INDIANA AND NW OHIO THIS
AFTERNOON.  SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE FORMING IN THE UNSTABLE
ATMOSPHERE ALONG AND SOUTH OF THE FRONT.  WIND FIELDS WERE NOT
OVERLY IMPRESSIVE BUT CAPES WERE OVER 2000 J/KG AND WBZ(S) WERE IN
THE RANGE FAVORABLE FOR LARGE HAIL.  ALSO MAX DELTA THETA-E(S) ON A
MODIFIED 12Z ILN SOUNDING WAS 23...SUGGESTING DAMAGING WINDS WILL
ALSO BE POSSIBLE.  THE SPC HAS PUT THE NORTHERN 2/3 OF THE FCST AREA
IN A SVR TS WATCH UNTIL 8 PM THIS EVENING.

AS THE NIGHT PROGRESSES...THE BNDRY WILL SAG SOUTH ACROSS THE FCST
AREA.  BOTH THE GFS AND ETA SHOW DECENT SFC CONVERGENCE WITH THE
BNDRY AND PW(S) ARE PROGGED OVER 1.6 INCHES.  BASED ON CURRENT
CONVECTIVE DEVELOPMENT NEAR THE FRONT...AND FCST QPF...IT APPEARS
THAT FLOODING COULD BE A PROBLEM AS THE BNDRY STRADDLES THE AREA
OVERNIGHT. IN RESPONSE...HAVE PUT THE NORTHERN 2/3 OF THE FCST AREA
IN A FLOOD WATCH UNTIL 10Z WEDNESDAY.

DID NOT STRAY MUCH FROM CURRENT TEMPS AND NOT MANY CHANGES TO REST
OF SHORT TERM IN GENERAL. BY CONSENSUS...THE BNDRY WILL MOVE NORTH
AGAIN WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON INTO THE EVENING.

&&

.ILN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
IN...FLOOD WATCH UNTIL 600 AM EDT WEDNESDAY FOR ZONES
INZ050...INZ058>059...INZ066.

KY...NONE.
OH...FLOOD WATCH UNTIL 600 AM EDT WEDNESDAY FOR ZONES OHZ026...
OHZ034>035...OHZ042>046...OHZ051>056...OHZ060>065...OHZ070>072...
OHZ074.

&&

Hazardous weather outlook, May 18, 4:00 AM EST, 14 hours 17 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OH
500 AM EDT TUE MAY 18 2004

INZ050-058-059-066-073>075-080-KYZ089>100-OHZ026-034-035-042>046-
051>056-060>065-070>074-077>082-088-181100-
ADAMS OH-AUGLAIZE OH-BOONE KY-BRACKEN KY-BROWN OH-BUTLER OH-
CAMPBELL KY-CARROLL KY-CHAMPAIGN OH-CLARK OH-CLERMONT OH-CLINTON OH-
DARKE OH-DEARBORN IN-DELAWARE OH-FAIRFIELD OH-FAYETTE OH-FAYETTE IN-
FRANKLIN OH-FRANKLIN IN-GALLATIN KY-GRANT KY-GREENE OH-HAMILTON OH-
HARDIN OH-HIGHLAND OH-HOCKING OH-KENTON KY-LEWIS KY-LICKING OH-
LOGAN OH-MADISON OH-MASON KY-MERCER OH-MIAMI OH-MONTGOMERY OH-
OHIO IN-OWEN KY-PENDLETON KY-PICKAWAY OH-PIKE OH-PREBLE OH-RIPLEY IN-
ROBERTSON KY-ROSS OH-SCIOTO OH-SHELBY OH-SWITZERLAND IN-UNION OH-
UNION IN-WARREN OH-WAYNE IN-
500 AM EDT TUE MAY 18 2004

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EASTERN INDIANA...NORTHERN
KENTUCKY AND THE SOUTHWEST QUARTER OF OHIO.

.DAY ONE...TODAY

COLD FRONT WILL DRIFT SOUTH FROM THE GREAT LAKES INTO SOUTHERN OHIO
AND INDIANA. THIS FRONT WILL BE THE FOCUS FOR THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY.
DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING SOME OF THE THUNDERSTORMS COULD
BECOME STRONG WITH THE MAIN THREAT BEING LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING
WINDS. AS THE EVENING WEARS ON THE THUNDERSTORMS WILL TRANSITION INTO
HEAVY RAINERS...MAKING FLOODING THE MAIN THREAT.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY

ACTIVE WEATHER PATTERN WILL KEEP THE THREAT OF THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH
MONDAY.  SOME OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS COULD BECOME STRONG TO SEVERE.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED...ESPECIALLY THIS AFTERNOON AND
EVENING.

 TIPTON

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 18, 5:25 PM EST, 52 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OH
625 PM EDT TUE MAY 18 2004

..TIME...   ...EVENT...     ...CITY LOCATION...      ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....     ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0625 PM     HAIL             HILLIARD                40.04N 83.14W
05/18/2004  0.75 INCH        FRANKLIN           OH   TRAINED SPOTTER

&&

Local storm report, May 18, 5:28 PM EST, 49 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OH
628 PM EDT TUE MAY 18 2004

..TIME...   ...EVENT...     ...CITY LOCATION...      ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....     ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0625 PM     TSTM WND GST     HILLIARD                40.04N 83.14W
05/18/2004  74 MPH           FRANKLIN           OH   TRAINED SPOTTER

0625 PM     TSTM WND DMG     HILLIARD                40.04N 83.14W
05/18/2004                   FRANKLIN           OH   TRAINED SPOTTER

            LARGE TREE LIMBS DOWN

&&

The radar

The Indianapolis radar (KIND), 98 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:19 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Fayette

When: May 18, 6:17 PM EST to 6:20 PM EST
Where: Fayette County, Connersville
Measured: 0.88 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 39.650, -85.133

Thunderstorm Wind, Union

When: May 18, 6:45 PM EST to 6:48 PM EST
Where: Union County, Liberty
Measured: 50 kt (58 mph) estimated gust
Property damage: $2,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 39.633, -84.933

Large limbs were downed.

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Indiana in 2004 Every state in 2004 This day in weather history Warnings in Indiana, May 2004

Sources

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: 5400795, 5400796.