On 30 May 2004, a warm front was draped across far southern portions of Indiana in the morning, as part of an unseasonably strong cyclone centered in Minnesota. This warm front began the day nearly stationary, taking 8 hours to move from Vincennes to Bloomington, then rocketing northward as the low pressure system quickly pushed off to the northeast late, dragging a cold front through the state…
Every event with a place to put it; 7 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 IND wrote it up.
On 30 May 2004, a warm front was draped across far southern portions of Indiana in the morning, as part of an unseasonably strong cyclone centered in Minnesota. This warm front began the day nearly stationary, taking 8 hours to move from Vincennes to Bloomington, then rocketing northward as the low pressure system quickly pushed off to the northeast late, dragging a cold front through the state during the overnight hours. All the necessary ingredients for a major severe weather outbreak were falling into place. Morning upper-air observations showed very deep moisture and intense wind shear (wind change in speed and direction with respect to height) in the lower levels of the atmosphere. Fairly clear skies during the course of the day contributed to moderately strong instability across much of Indiana. Along and north of the warm front, winds backed to the east-southeast, further enhancing the wind shear. This area of enhanced shear with the deep moisture and instability pooled along it would serve as the focus for the first two rounds of severe weather in the Indianapolis County Warning Area (CWA) on May 30th.The first wave of severe weather came in the early afternoon, as individual rotating thunderstorms, or supercells, formed just south of the warm front, crossing over the boundary soon after forming and moving into the area of enhanced shear. These supercells began to show strong rotation soon after their formation, and produced several funnel reports and confirmed tornadoes near Spencer and Ellettsville. Each of these tornadoes were rated F1 on the Fujita Scale of Tornado Intensity, a rating corresponding to the partial peeling of roofs and destruction of small outbuildings.Wave number two began in the late afternoon and continued into the early evening hours. Additional supercell development occurred further west along the warm front, in an area that had been receiving plenty of heating all day, maximizing instability in the very moist air mass. This wave of storms included a storm that produced tornadoes in Fountain and Tippecanoe counties, one of which was rated F2 near Dayton, just southeast of Lafayette, and a long-lived supercell that tracked along and just south of the I-70 corridor, producing tornadoes in Brazil, Little Point, Monrovia, just south of Plainfield, Camby, and Indianapolis. Power flashes from the Camby tornado were visible from the front door of NWS Indianapolis. The strongest of these tornadoes was the Indianapolis tornado, which briefly achieved F2 strength on the southeast side near Keystone Avenue between Raymond and Troy where there was significant damage to numerous homes, a nursing home and an elementary school. 26 nursing home inhabitants were treated at local hospitals for minor injuries, and the rest were relocated as the building was inhabitable. In addition to this tornado, the Monrovia tornado was rated F1. All additional tornadoes from this particular supercell were rated F0, a rating corresponding to moderate tree damage and damage to outbuildings and signboards. There was also a lightning fatality in Veedersburg in Fountain County as a 24 year old male was struck while on a baseball field.The final wave of severe weather came in the late evening and early nighttime hours, and was mostly in the form of wind damage, although brief tornadoes did occur along the squall line that had formed near the Mississippi River and tracked eastward, accompanying the passage of the cold front, including tornadoes near Lake Monroe and Crothersville in south central Indiana, and Atlanta and Frankton in north central Indiana. The tornado near Lake Monroe was rated F1, while all additional tornadoes were rated F0.To complicate the issue, the repeated rounds of heavy rain caused flooding problems across much of the area, with several flash flood warnings and urban/small stream flood advisories being issued during the evening and overnight hours.Fifteen total tornadoes touched down in central Indiana on May 30th, with damage estimates approaching $13,000,000 for central Indiana alone. In all, an additional eight tornadoes touched down in portions of Indiana that are served by neighboring NWS forecast offices, bringing the statewide total for the day to 23, four over the yearly average of 19. This places the May 30th outbreak as the second largest outbreak in state history, behind the outbreak of 2 June 1990, and ahead of the "Super Outbreak" of 3-4 April 1974. 37 tornadoes touched down statewide in the 1990 outbreak, and 21 tornadoes touched down during the Super Outbreak, which was the largest outbreak of tornadoes in recorded history, with 148 tornadoes touching down across 13 states and southern Canada, killing 351 and injuring thousands. Nationwide, several more tornadoes were reported, along with nearly 200 reports of large hail and nearly 600 reports of wind damage. Reports occurred all along the Mississippi, Ohio, and Tennessee Valleys, stretching from central Minnesota all the way to northeast Texas.
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 Indianapolis, IN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 30, 3:00 AM EST, 9 hours 52 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN 300 AM EST SUN MAY 30 2004 .DISCUSSION...KIND RADAR SHOWING SOME SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS MOVING INTO SOUTH CENTRAL INDIANA. WARM FRONT LOCATED ACROSS SOUTHERN INDIANA WITH COLD FRONT FROM ND SOUTHWARD INTO TX AND NM. SEVERAL SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS CONT ALONG CDFNT. MODELS ARE IN GOOD AGREEMENT. WL USE BLEND. POSSIBLE SVR WX TODAY AND TONIGHT STILL THE MAIN CONCERN. TODAY LOOKS TO BE A RAINY ONE WITH INTERMITTENT SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS MVG AHEAD OF A WARM FRONT. AS WARM FRONT MVS NORTH...FOCUS FOR SHOWERS AND STORMS WL MV WITH IT. THERE WL STILL BE A CHANCE FOR SOME ISOLATED AFTERNOON STORMS BUT THE BEST DYNAMICS WL BE OVERNIGHT INTO MON MORNING. A COUPLE OF LIMITING FACTORS REGARDING SVR STORM POSSIBILITIES TODAY ARE AS FOLLOWS: (1) MODELS CONT TO SLOW DOWN THE ONSET OF BEST DYNAMICS IN ADVANCE OF THE CDFNT OUT WEST. WITH UNSEASONABLY STRONG FNT NOT TRACKING ACROSS INDIANA UNTIL LATE SUNDAY NGT INTO MON MORNING...BEST LIFT AND INSTABILITY WL NOT MV ACROSS AREA UNTIL LATE NGT. (2) ABUNDANT MOISTURE WL BE AVAILABLE BUT SO WL CLOUDS. WITH CLOUD CVR EXPECTED TO LINGER MUCH OF THE DAY...DAYTIME HEATING WL BE AT A MINIMUM. CAPES ARE FORECAST TO STAY BELOW 1000 J/KG WITH LIS 0C TO -1C. DEPENDING ON EXACT POSITION OF WMFNT (MEANING IF THE WARM FRONT LINGERS ACROSS CENTRAL INDIANA INTO THE AFTERNOON) AND ANY CLEARING TODAY THAT WOULD QUICKLY CAUSE DESTABILIZATION OF THE ATMOSPHERE...SUPERCELL THUNDERSTORMS COULD FORM. GIVEN THE ABOVE SCENARIO AND THE AMOUNT OF DIRECTIONAL SHEAR ACROSS CENTRAL INDIANA AFT 18Z TODAY...AN ISOLATED TORNADO (ALONG WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGIND WINDS) WOULD NOT BE OUT OF THE QUESTION. WL HAVE TO KEEP A CLOSE EYE ON SITUATION THIS AFT INTO THE OVRNGT HRS. TONIGHT...AS FNT APPROACHES AND DYNAMICS INCREASE...SVR WX POSSIBILITIES ALSO INCREASE. H7 OMEGA FIELDS WOULD SUGGEST A LINE OF STRONG TO SEVERE STORMS FORM AS COLD FRONT CROSSES THE STATE. GOOD SERIES OF S/WVS...45-50KT LLJ AND DIRECTIONAL SHEAR MEANS THAT ISOLATED TORNADOES WILL BE POSSIBLE ALONG WITH DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL. ONE REAL CONCERN WITH WATER ACROSS SOUTHERN TIER OF COUNTIES. THIS AREA HAS SEEN A LOT OF RAIN LATELY. WL MONITOR SITUATION AS ADDITIONAL SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE ONGOING THIS MORNING ACROSS SOUTHERN INDIANA. SOME OF THE HEAVIEST THUNDERSTORMS COULD PRODUCE 1 TO 2 INCHES OF RAIN. WITH THE UNCERTAINTY OF THE EXACT LOCATION OF HEAVY RAIN...WL HOLD OFF ON FLASH FLOOD WATCH AT THIS TIME. MONDAY COULD SEE A STRAY SHOWER OR THUNDERSTORM BEHIND FNT AS UPPER LOW LINGERS NEAR GREAT LAKES. VERY COLD AIR ALOFT AND THE PASSAGE OF CDFNT WILL ALSO LEAD TO SOME COOLER TEMPERATURES FOR MEMORIAL DAY. MOS GUIDANCE LOOKS REASONABLE. WL USE BLEND. && .IND WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && BIELINSKI
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN 541 AM EST SUN MAY 30 2004 INZ021-028>031-035>049-051>057-060>065-067>072-311100- BARTHOLOMEW-BOONE-BROWN-CARROLL-CLAY-CLINTON-DAVIESS-DECATUR- DELAWARE-FOUNTAIN-GREENE-HAMILTON-HANCOCK-HENDRICKS-HENRY-HOWARD- JACKSON-JENNINGS-JOHNSON-KNOX-LAWRENCE-MADISON-MARION-MARTIN-MONROE- MONTGOMERY-MORGAN-OWEN-PARKE-PUTNAM-RANDOLPH-RUSH-SHELBY-SULLIVAN- TIPPECANOE-TIPTON-VERMILLION-VIGO-WARREN- 541 AM EST SUN MAY 30 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL INDIANA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT AN UNSEASONABLY STRONG UPPER LEVEL STORM SYSTEM APPROACHES INDIANA TODAY. A WARM FRONT WILL MOVE NORTH ACROSS THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE LIKELY AHEAD AND ALONG THIS FRONT. SOME OF THESE STORMS COULD BE SEVERE WITH LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS AND TORNADOES THE MAIN THREATS. AS THE WARM FRONT MOVES NORTH...MUCH OF CENTRAL INDIANA WILL BE IN THE WARM SECTOR OF THIS POWERFUL STORM SYSTEM. ONCE AGAIN THE THREAT FOR LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS AND TORNADOES EXISTS WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF SUPERCELL THUNDERSTORMS. LATER TONIGHT...AS THE COLD FRONT BEGINS TO PUSH EAST...A SQUALL LINE IS EXPECTED TO MOVE ACROSS THE STATE. THE MAIN THREAT WITH THIS LINE OF STORMS WILL BE DAMAGING WINDS ALTHOUGH AN ISOLATED TORNADO AND LARGE HAIL WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY THERE IS A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS ON TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL LIKELY BE NEEDED LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. BIELINSKI
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN 1157 AM EST SUN MAY 30 2004 INZ021-028>031-035>049-051>057-060>065-067>072-310000- CARROLL-HOWARD-TIPPECANOE-WARREN-CLINTON-TIPTON-MADISON-DELAWARE- FOUNTAIN-RANDOLPH-HAMILTON-MONTGOMERY-BOONE-VERMILLION-HENRY-PARKE- HANCOCK-MARION-HENDRICKS-PUTNAM-RUSH-SHELBY-JOHNSON-MORGAN-VIGO-CLAY- OWEN-DECATUR-BARTHOLOMEW-BROWN-MONROE-SULLIVAN-JENNINGS-GREENE- JACKSON-LAWRENCE-KNOX-MARTIN-DAVIESS- 1157 AM EST SUN MAY 30 2004 ...TORNADO WATCH #331 REMAINS IN EFFECT... TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 700 PM.
The Indianapolis radar (KIND), 23 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 17:52 UTC.
18 tornado, 7 thunderstorm wind, 6 flash flood, 3 hail, 1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
A 24 year old male was hit by lightning on a baseball field and died shortly thereafter.
An F1 tornado skipped along for almost 8 and a half miles from near Freedom to Spencer. A few homes received significant damage about midway along the path of the tornado.
State police reported a brief weak tornado touchdown in a field near Veedersburg.
An F1 tornado caused significant damage to a cabin northeast of Ellettsville. Most of the path was along a wooded area with numerous trees felled.
An F0 tornado touched down in a corn field 3 miles west of Brazil. No property damage was reported. The report was from an amateur radio operator.
An F0 tornado touched down near Little Point just south of Interstate 70. There was light damage to one barn roof top. The report was from an a National Weather Service storm survey.
An F1 tornado touched down 2 miles northeast of Little Point and traveled 5 miles to just inside Hendricks County, about a mile southeast of Hazelwood damaging a few homes.
An F1 tornado moved from 2 miles northeast of Little Point and traveled 5 miles to just inside the Hendricks County line, about 1 mile southeast of Hazelwood.
An F0 tornado touched down briefly just east and northeast of Joppa. Report was from a National Weather Service storm survey.
An F0 tornado touched down just southwest of Friendswood in Southwestern Hendricks County and traveled 4.1 miles northeast to just north of West Newton in Marion County per National Weather Service storm survey.
An F0 tornado touched down just southwest of Friendswood in southwest Hendricks County and moved 4.1 miles northeast to just north of West Newton in Marion County per National Weather Service storm survey.
A tornado cut a near continuous 18 mile path across southern and eastern Marion County before briefly moving into Hancock County. The tornado dropped down near exit 4 at Harding Street and Interstate 465 on the south side of metro Indianapolis and moved into Hancock County to near Mount Comfort. The worst damage was found near South Keystone Avenue between Raymond St. And Troy. The damage was rated F2 there. There was significant damage to numerous homes, a nursing home and an elementary school. 26 nursing home inhabitants were treated at local hospitals for mainly minor cuts and scrapes, and the rest were relocated as the building was inhabitable. The tornado continued across 465 at Post Road and then lifted. Additional brief touchdowns (F0) occurred near 21st Street, 25th and Mittehoffer and German Church Road and 30th Street. The last touchdown occurred at 38th street and County Line Road where it crossed into Hancock County before lifting. A total of 600 homes, 24 apartment buildings and 90 commercial buildings received damage across Decatur, Perry, Center and Warren townships of Marion County.
National Weather Service storm survey and Emergency Manager reported brief touchdown of weak F0 tornado in a corn field. No damage reported.
A tornado touched down near Dayton. The tornado caused significant tree damage and blew parts of roofs off two buildings in Dayton. The tornado continued moving northeast with sporadic damage until reaching large homes approximately 1.5 miles northeast of Dayton. Two homes were nearly destroyed on Halifax Lane. Wind speeds were estimated around 150 mph.
A tornado cut a near continuous 18 mile path across southern and eastern Marion County before briefly moving into Hancock County. The tornado dropped down near exit 4 at Harding Street and Interstate 465 on the south side of metro Indianapolis and moved into Hancock County to near Mount Comfort. The worst damage was found near South Keystone Avenue between Raymond St. And Troy. The damage was rated F2 there. There was significant damage to numerous homes, a nursing home and an elementary school. 26 nursing home inhabitants were treated at local hospitals for mainly minor cuts and scrapes, and the rest were relocated as the building was inhabitable. The tornado continued across 465 at Post Road and then lifted. Additional brief touchdowns (F0) occurred near 21st Street, 25th and Mittehoffer and German Church Road and 30th Street. The last touchdown occurred at 38th street and County Line Road where it crossed into Hancock County before lifting. A total of 600 homes, 24 apartment buildings and 90 commercial buildings received damage across Decatur, Perry, Center and Warren townships of Marion County.
4 roads were closed due to high water.
An F0 tornado damaged a barn and some farm equipment as it briefly touched down near Atlanta.
An F0 tornado did minor damage to a building in Frankton.
An F0 tornado moved across Lake Monroe southeast of Bloomington sinking several sailboats.
Street flooding reported.
A tree fell on a van busting out its windows and flattening its suspension. Several other trees were also downed in the vicinity.
3 roads closed in northern portion of the county due to high water.
Flash flooding reported mainly along White Lick Creek.
Several roads under water.
An F0 tornado blew done numerous trees and a HAM radio antenna and did damage to the roof of a business.
Several cars were stuck in high water and had to be towed out.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tornado, Hendricks | 2004-05-30 | 24 | Male | Ball Field | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Indiana in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Indiana, 2004Warnings in Indiana, 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: 5400576, 5401704, 5401705, 5401706, 5401707, 5401768, 5401767, 5401769, 5401770, 5401771, 5401772, 5401773, 5401774, 5401775, 5401776, 5401804, 5401806, 5401807, 5401805, 5400571, 5400578, 5400573, 5400572, 5401808, 5401809, 5400569, 5400574, 5400581, 5400575, 5400577, 5400580, 5400582, 5400583, 5400570, 5400579.