Hail in Iowa, July 31, 2004

Name: Hail in Iowa, July 31, 2004
Start: 2004-07-31T19:05
End: 2004-07-31T19:05
Location: Iowa

July 31, 2004 · NWS FSD · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 hail, 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: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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 Sioux Falls, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 31, 2:00 PM CST, 5 hours 5 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 31, 2:00 PM CST, 5 hours 5 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR SOUTHEAST SD/SOUTHWEST MN/NORTHWEST IA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD
300 PM CDT SAT JUL 31 2004

.DISCUSSION...
LOOKS LIKE A TYPICAL LATE JULY/EARLY AUG PATTERN SETTING UP FOR THE
NEXT WEEK. MID LVL THERMAL RDG TO MOV OVR AREA WITH SERIES OF UPR
LVL WAVES RIDING OVR THE RDG AND COMG THRU THE AREA IN NW FLOW.
THERE WL BE A LOW POP CHC OF NIGHTTIME/EARLY MRNG TSRA ALONG AND E
OF CAP WITH THE SHRTWVS. TIMING OF THE SHRTWVS WL BE UNCERTAIN... SO
WL BASE FCST MORE ON POSITION OF CAP AND DIURNAL CYCLE. INSTABILITY
FOR LATE AFTN AND EVNG IS IMPRESSIVE...BUT SHEAR DECREASES RAPIDLY
AS TEMPS/LIFT GET TO WHERE CONVECTION STARTS. WL HAVE SCTD PULSE
TSRA THRU THE EVNG...MAINLY IN ERN ZONES...WITH SVR HAIL PSBL IN
STRONGEST STORMS. LOCALLY HVY RAIN WL BE BIGGEST THREAT THRU THE
NEXT WEEK WITH HIGH DWPTS...AND SLOW MVG STORMS. LONG RANGE GFS
BRINGS STGR SFC FNT THRU THE AREA NEXT SAT...BUT WL PLAY THIS AS
BEING TOO FAST AND KEEP WARM TEMPS THRU THE FCST PD.

&&

.FSD...WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
SD...NONE.
MN...NONE.
IA...NONE.
NE...NONE.

&&

MG

Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 31, 9:46 AM CST, 9 hours 19 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD
1046 AM CDT SAT JUL 31 2004

SDZ038>040-050-052>071-MNZ071-072-080-081-089-090-097-098-
IAZ001>003-012>014-020>022-031-032-NEZ013-014-011200-
AURORA-BEADLE-BON HOMME-BROOKINGS-BRULE-BUENA VISTA IA-
CHARLES MIX-CHEROKEE IA-CLAY-CLAY IA-COTTONWOOD MN-DAKOTA NE-
DAVISON-DICKINSON IA-DIXON NE-DOUGLAS-GREGORY-HANSON-HUTCHINSON-
IDA IA-JACKSON MN-JERAULD-KINGSBURY-LAKE-LINCOLN-LINCOLN MN-
LYON IA-LYON MN-MCCOOK-MINER-MINNEHAHA-MOODY-MURRAY MN-NOBLES MN-
OBRIEN IA-OSCEOLA IA-PIPESTONE MN-PLYMOUTH IA-ROCK MN-SANBORN-
SIOUX IA-TURNER-UNION-WOODBURY IA-YANKTON-
1046 AM CDT SAT JUL 31 2004

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA...
SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA...NORTHWEST IOWA...AND NORTHEAST NEBRASKA.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

THUNDERSTORMS...
A WEAK SURFACE FRONT CONTINUES TO LIE ACROSS PORTIONS OF NORTH
CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA INTO NORTHWEST IOWA.  THIS FRONT WILL REMAIN
NEARLY STATIONARY THROUGHOUT THE DAY. AN UPPER LEVEL STORM SYSTEM
IS FORECAST TO MOVE THROUGH PORTIONS OF THE UPPER MIDWEST LATE
THIS AFTERNOON INTO THE EVENING.  THIS WILL PROVIDE ENOUGH LIFT
WHICH WILL ACT UPON THE EXISTING INSTABILITY TO CAUSE SCATTERED
THUNDERSTORMS TO FORM BY LATE THIS AFTERNOON...AND CONTINUE INTO
THE EVENING HOURS.  THE MORE FAVORED AREAS FOR DEVELOPMENT WILL
BE EAST OF THE JAMES RIVER VALLEY.  A FEW STORMS COULD BECOME
SEVERE WITH POSSIBILITY OF DIME TO NICKEL SIZE HAIL AND WIND
GUSTS OF 60 TO 70 MPH.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL BE POSSIBLE AFTER 2 PM CDT FOR AREAS
EAST OF THE JAMES RIVER VALLEY.

&&

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT
WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/FSD. THIS INCLUDES THE GRAPHICAL HAZARDOUS
WEATHER OUTLOOK.

HEITKAMP

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 31, 7:00 PM CST, 5 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD
800 PM CDT SAT JUL 31 2004

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

0550 PM     HAIL             EDGERTON                43.87N 96.13W
07/31/2004  1.00 INCH        PIPESTONE          MN   BROADCAST MEDIA

0627 PM     HAIL             5 SW EDGERTON           43.82N 96.20W
07/31/2004  0.88 INCH        ROCK               MN   TRAINED SPOTTER

            NICKEL HAIL IN LEOTA. HEAVY RAIN AND WATER COVERIN THE
            STREETS.

0640 PM     HAIL             1 S LISMORE             43.73N 95.95W
07/31/2004  1.00 INCH        NOBLES             MN   TRAINED SPOTTER

0645 PM     HAIL             3 S MONTROSE            43.66N 97.18W
07/31/2004  1.00 INCH        MCCOOK             SD   PUBLIC

            SO MUCH HAIL FELL THAT IT LOOKS LIKE IT SNOWED.

0650 PM     HAIL             HUMBOLDT                43.65N 97.07W
07/31/2004  1.25 INCH        MINNEHAHA          SD   BROADCAST MEDIA

0653 PM     HAIL             5 N ADRIAN              43.71N 95.93W
07/31/2004  0.75 INCH        NOBLES             MN   TRAINED SPOTTER

0705 PM     HAIL             HUMBOLDT                43.65N 97.07W
07/31/2004  1.75 INCH        MINNEHAHA          SD   TRAINED SPOTTER

            75 PERCENT OF HAIL WAS AS BIG OR SMALLER THAN A 50 CENT
            PIECE. HEAVY RAIN FELL WITH THE HAIL.

0708 PM     HAIL             ADRIAN                  43.63N 95.93W
07/31/2004  0.75 INCH        NOBLES             MN   TRAINED SPOTTER

0710 PM     HAIL             1 W ADRIAN              43.63N 95.95W
07/31/2004  0.75 INCH        NOBLES             MN   TRAINED SPOTTER

            IN ADDITION TO THE DIME SIZE HAIL, THERE WERE ROTATING
            WALL CLOUDS.

0718 PM     FUNNEL CLOUD     5 SW ADRIAN             43.58N 96.00W
07/31/2004                   NOBLES             MN   TRAINED SPOTTER

            FUNNEL CLOUD HEADING TO THE GROUND.

0721 PM     TORNADO          3 W ADRIAN              43.63N 95.99W
07/31/2004                   NOBLES             MN   TRAINED SPOTTER

            CHASER ON I-90 SAW A FUNNEL CLOUD DESCEND TO THE GROUND
            WEST OF ADRIAN.

0726 PM     HAIL             WALL LAKE               43.53N 96.96W
07/31/2004  1.75 INCH        MINNEHAHA          SD   LAW ENFORCEMENT

            GOLFBALL SIZE HAIL COVERING THE GROUND IN WALL LAKE.

0732 PM     HAIL             SIOUX FALLS             43.54N 96.73W
07/31/2004  0.75 INCH        MINNEHAHA          SD   NWS EMPLOYEE

            DIME SIZE HAIL ON THE WEST SIDE OF SIOUX FALLS.

&&

TRM

The radar

The Sioux Falls radar (KFSD), 68 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:05 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Lyon

When: July 31, 7:05 PM CST
Where: Lyon County, 1 mi N of Little Rock
Measured: 1.75 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 43.467, -95.900

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Iowa in 2004 Every state in 2004 This day in weather history Warnings in Iowa, July 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: 5416594.