2 hail, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 Grand Rapids, MI wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 20, 1:53 AM EST, 5 hours 17 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND RAPIDS MI 253 AM EDT WED MAY 20 2004 .SHORT TERM... SKIES WERE GENERALLY CLOUDY ACROSS THE CWA...MOSTLY FROM AN AREA OF THUNDERSTORMS MOVING EAST ACROSS EASTERN WISCONSIN AND LAKE MICHIGAN. SFC HIGH PRESSURE WAS LOCATED OVER THE EAST COAST WITH LOW PRESSURE OVER THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER VALLEY. A WARM FRONT STRETCHED FROM THE LOW SOUTHWEST TO NEAR CHI AND ACROSS NORTHERN INDIANA. FORECAST CONCERNS DEAL WITH STORMS MOVING ACROSS WISCONIN INTO LOWER MICHIGAN THIS MORNING AND POTENTIAL FOR MORE CONVECTION/SEVERE STORMS THIS AFTERNOON AS THE TRAILING COLD FRONT MOVES INTO THE CWA. THE SHORT RANGE MODELS ARE IN GENERAL AGREEMENT IN MOVING THE COLD FRONT THROUGH THE CWA THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING AND THEN STALLING OVER NORTHERN INDIANA BEFORE MOVING NORTH FRIDAY. FOR TODAY WELL SEE A DRAMATIC INCREASE IN LOW LEVEL MOISTURE AFTER THE WARM FRONT LIFTS NORTH THIS MORNING. SFC DEWPOINTS WILL RISE INTO THE MID 60S AS TEMPS RISE TO THE UPPER 70S IT WILL FEEL MUGGY. CONVECTION MOVING EAST FROM WISCONSIN THIS MORING WILL FIND SOME WEAK ELEVATED INSTABILITY WITH LIS SLIGHTLY BELOW 0C ACROSS THE CWA. WELL HAVE TO WATCH THE WARM FRONT LIFTING NORTH AS THE CONVECTION FROM WISCONSIN MOVES EAST. THERES ALREADY SOME VEERING IN THE LOWEST KM OVER THE CWA. HELICITY DECREASES BY LATE MORNING AS STORM RELATIVE INFLOW BACKS TO THE SOUTHEAST FROM THE SOUTHWEST. ATTENTION THEN FOCUSES ON THE COLD FRONT AS IT DROPS SOUTHEAST THIS AFTERNOON. LATE AFTERNOON TIMING OF THE FRONT MOVING THROUGH THE CWA FAVORS MAX HEATING POTENTIAL. MOISTURE WILL BE ABUNDANT AND INSTABILITY WILL BE MODERATE WITH LIS AROUND -4C. JET DYNAMICS ARENT TOO IMPRESSIVE THOUGH WITH SLIGHT CONVERGENCE ALOFT. THIS COULD MINIMIZE THE SEVERE THREAT, BUT PROBABLY WONT ELIMINATE IT. THIS MORNINGS CONVECTION WILL ALSO PUT DOWN SOME BOUNDARIES THAT THIS AFTERNOONS STORMS WILL GET TO INTERACT WITH. WILL KEEP THE FORECAST AS IS WITH HIGHER POPS SHIFTING SOUTH THROUGHOUT THE DAY. THE FRONT SLIPS SOUTH OF THE CWA TONIGHT FOR A BRIEF PERIOD BEFORE LIFTING NORTH ON FRIDAY AS A WARM FRONT. WILL ELIMINATE POPS FROM THE NORTH TONIGHT. MODELS SHOW THE FRONT MOVING NORTH TO CENTRAL LOWER BY FRIDAY EVENING AND THEN A SERIES OF WAVES MOVING ALONG THE FRONT. THIS WILL TEND TO FOCUS STORMS ACROSS THE NORTHERN CWA. HEAVY RAIN THREAT EXISTS FROM LATE FRIDAY THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT ACROSS THE NORTHERN CWA INITIALLY AND THEN THE ENTIRE CWA AS STORMS FORMING CLOSER TO THE MAIN SFC LOW IN EASTERN IOWA MOVE EAST. FLOODING MAY BE A PROBLEM GIVEN RECENT HEAVY RAIN IN THE AREA. .LONG TERM... THE MID RANGE MODELS ARE IN GOOD AGREEMENT THROUGH THE EXTENDED PERIOD WITH A FRONTAL BOUNDARY MEANDERING ACROSS THE AREA. THE FORECAST PROBLEM FOR THIS PACKAGE IS THE TIMING OF SHORT WAVES THROUGH THE SOUTHWEST UPPER LEVEL FLOW. AS IN PREVIOUS FORECASTS... THE STRONGEST PULSE WILL PASS THROUGH THE REGION DURING THE LATE SUNDAY/EARLY MONDAY PERIOD. CONFIDENCE DROPS OFF IN LATER TIME FRAMES AS THE WAVES ARE WEAKER AND HAVE MORE VARIABILITY BETWEEN MODEL SOLUTIONS. LITTLE CHANGE IS ANTICIPATED IN THE GOING FORECAST. && .GRR...WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && 93 IOD
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND RAPIDS MI 530 AM EDT THU MAY 20 2004 MIZ037>040-043>046-050>052-056>059-064>067-071>074-211000- ALLEGAN-BARRY-CALHOUN-CLARE-CLINTON-EATON-GRATIOT-INGHAM-IONIA- ISABELLA-JACKSON-KALAMAZOO-KENT-LAKE-MASON-MECOSTA-MONTCALM-MUSKEGON- NEWAYGO-OCEANA-OSCEOLA-OTTAWA-VAN BUREN- 530 AM EDT THU MAY 20 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST LOWER MICHIGAN. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED ACROSS SOUTHWEST LOWER MICHIGAN TODAY AND TONIGHT. SOME OF THE STORMS COULD BE SEVERE. WIND GUSTS TO 65 MPH WILL BE THE MAIN THREAT. THUNDERSTORM MOVEMENT WILL BE EAST AT 35 MPH. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY A FRONTAL BOUNDARY WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE ACROSS SOUTHWEST LOWER MICHIGAN. AS A RESULT...THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED THROUGH THE PERIOD. SOME OF THE THUNDERSTOMS COULD BE SEVERE. HEAVY RAINFALL IS ALSO POSSIBLE. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED TODAY. 93
The Grand Rapids radar (KGRR), 40 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 12:11 UTC.
2 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Seven eighths inch diameter hail was reported by the public six miles east of Zeeland.
The public reported three quarters inch diameter hail in Middleville.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Michigan in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyWarnings in Michigan, 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: 5402106, 5402107.