6 hail, 2 lightning, 1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 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 Topeka, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 23, 2:17 AM CST, 5 hours 28 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 317 AM CDT MON AUG 23 2004 .DISCUSSION... IMMEDIATE PROBLEM IS ONGOING CONVECTION...THEN CONVECTION OFF AND ON DURING THE WEEK. RADAR AND SATELLITE LOOPS SHOW CONVECTION INCREASING OVER SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS AND MOVING TO THE NORTHEAST. HAVE GONE CATEGORICAL SCATTERED CONVECTION THIS MORNING...THEN RETAINED CHANCES FOR MORE CONVECTION LATE THIS AFTERNOON AS UPPER TROUGH WILL BE IN THE AREA AND AMPLE MOISTURE TO WORK WITH PLUS DAYTIME HEATING. CONVECTIVE CHANCES CONTINUE TONIGHT WITH UPPER TROUGH IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD. CONVECTIVE CHANCES RETURN TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY WITH FRONTAL BOUNDARY SERVING AS THE FOCUS AND SOME UPPER SUPPORT AS WELL. ANOTHER CHANCE AGAIN LATE FRIDAY THROUGH SATURDAY AS MAJOR UPPER SYSTEM AND SURFACE FRONT WILL BE IN THE AREA AGAIN TO ADD DYNAMIC FORCING TO A MOIST ATMOSPHERE. REGARDING TEMPERATURES...A WARM WEEK EXPECTED WITH SOUTHERLY WINDS PRESENT MUCH OF THE TIME AT LOWER LEVELS...AND HUMID ALSO. HIGHS TODAY EXPECTED TO BE IN THE MIDDLE TO UPPER 80S...AND THE UPPER 80S TO LOWER 90S TUESDAY. LOW TO MID 90S PREVAIL WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY BEFORE SIGNIFICANT UPPER SYSTEM APPROACHES AND LEADS TO A COOLDOWN STARTING FRIDAY AND BECOMING MORE SIGNIFICANT OVER THE WEEKEND WHEN HIGHS SHOULD BE IN THE MIDDLE 80S. && .TOP...WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 454 AM CDT MON AUG 23 2004 KSZ008>012-020>024-026-034>040-054>056-058-059-241000- ANDERSON-BROWN-CLAY-CLOUD-COFFEY-DICKINSON-DOUGLAS-FRANKLIN-GEARY- JACKSON-JEFFERSON-LYON-MARSHALL-MORRIS-NEMAHA-OSAGE-OTTAWA- POTTAWATOMIE-REPUBLIC-RILEY-SHAWNEE-WABAUNSEE-WASHINGTON- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...ABILENE...CLAY CENTER...CONCORDIA... EMPORIA...HIAWATHA...JUNCTION CITY...LAWRENCE...MANHATTAN... MARYSVILLE...OTTAWA AND TOPEKA 454 AM CDT MON AUG 23 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH CENTRAL...NORTHEAST AND EAST CENTRAL KANSAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED ACROSS THE AREA THIS MORNING...THEN MORE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY THERE WILL BE A CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS AGAIN FROM LATE TUESDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY ACROSS THE AREA. SOME OF THE STORMS COULD BECOME SEVERE WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS THE PRIMARY HAZARD. ANOTHER CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS IS EXPECTED LATE FRIDAY THROUGH SATURDAY ACROSS THE AREA. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY AND TONIGHT. && MORE INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED AT THE FOLLOWING WEB PAGE: HTTP://WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/TOP (ALL LOWER CASE)
The Topeka radar (KTWX), 5 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:38 UTC.
6 hail, 2 lightning, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck a home and damaged an air conditioner.
Lightning struck a home and did significant damage.
A tornado touched down over open country south of Silver Lake and traveled a short distance before dissipating.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kansas in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Kansas, 2004Warnings in Kansas, August 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: 5417363, 5417425, 5417356, 5417357, 5417358, 5417359, 5417360, 5417361, 5417362.