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, 2:02 PM EST, 6 hours 45 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND RAPIDS MI 302 PM EDT WED MAY 20 2004 .SHORT TERM... PRIMARY FORECAST CONCERN IN THE NEAR TERM IS FOR POTENTIAL FOR SEVERE WEATHER AND HEAVY RAIN JUST ABOUT EVERY PERIOD. FOR TONIGHT... COLD FRONT PUSHES INTO THE FORECAST AREA...WITH MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIR MASS IN PLACE. LACK OF SFC HEATING THIS AFTERNOON MAY HELP PREVENT WIDESPREAD CONVECTION FROM DEVELOPING BUT EXPECT AT LEAST SCATTERED CONVECTION FIRING UP THIS EVENING AND POTENTIAL FOR UPSTREAM CONVECTION ADVECTING INTO THE FORECAST AREA. WILL KEEP THE HIGH CHANCE POPS GOING ACROSS THE SOUTHERN FORECAST AREA...WITH LOW CHANCE POPS ACROSS THE NORTH. WITH THE LONGWAVE FLOW REMAINING RATHER ZONAL AND THE SE US UPPER RIDGE HOLDING FIRM...THE FRONT WILL ONCE AGAIN STALL JUST SOUTH OF THE FORECAST AREA ON FRIDAY. MAX TEMPS MAY BE SUPPRESSED BY LOW CLOUDS AS WARMER AIR ADVECTS OVER THE SHALLOW COOL AIR BEHIND THE FRONT. BIG DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE ETA AND GFS GUIDANCE MAXES FOR FRIDAY...WITH THE ETA RUNNING ABOUT 10F WARMER. WILL SPLIT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO...AND GO WITH WARMER MAXES ACROSS THE FAR SOUTHERN FORECAST AREA...AS THE FRONT MOVES NORTH BY LATE IN THE AFTERNOON. BOTH THE ETA AND GFS ARE CONSISTENT WITH THEIR PREVIOUS RUNS IN SHOWING A LARGE AREA OF CONVECTIVE RAIN MOVING ACROSS NORTHERN LOWER MICHIGAN FRIDAY NIGHT AND INTO SATURDAY ALONG THE FRONT. WILL KEEP LIKELY POPS GOING FOR THE NORTHERN FORECAST AREA. SFC LOW OVER THE UPPER PLAINS ONLY SLOWLY MOVES EAST OVER THE WEEKEND WITH OTHER CHANCES FOR ORGANIZED CONVECTION RIGHT THROUGH 00Z MONDAY AS THE FRONT REMAINS DRAPED ACROSS LOWER MICHIGAN. WE HAVE ISSUED A HYDROLOGIC OUTLOOK...ARBESFGRR...FOR THE POTENTIAL FOR HEAVY RAIN AND FLOODING OVER THE WEEKEND. .LONG TERM... MEDIUM RANGE GUIDANCE CONTINUES TO INDICATE THAT THE ACTIVE WX PATTERN WILL PERSIST ACROSS OUR AREA EARLY NEXT WEEK. ON MONDAY WELL STILL HAVE A CHC OF A FEW LINGERING SHOWERS AND TSTORMS EARLY IN THE DAY IN ASSOCIATION WITH A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM, BUT IT APPEARS THE BEST CHANCE FOR CONVECTION WILL SHIFT EAST OF OUR AREA AND MOST OF THE DAY SHOULD BE DRY. ON TUESDAY, LATEST GFS GUIDANCE SUGGESTS YET ANOTHER LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL MOVE IN AND BRING ANOTHER CHC FOR TSTORMS. A FEW SHOWERS AND TSTORMS COULD LINGER INTO EARLY WEDNESDAY BEFORE A STRONGER COLD FRONT FINALLY CLEARS OUR AREA. BEHIND IT, MEDIUM RANGE GUIDANCE SHOWS COOLER AIR WILL FILTER IN LATE NEXT WEEK AS A H5 TROUGH MOVES INTO OUR AREA. && .GRR...WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && OSTUNO LAURENS
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND RAPIDS MI 1245 PM EDT THU MAY 20 2004 MIZ037>040-043>046-050>052-056>059-064>067-071>074-211039- ALLEGAN-BARRY-CALHOUN-CLARE-CLINTON-EATON-GRATIOT-INGHAM-IONIA- ISABELLA-JACKSON-KALAMAZOO-KENT-LAKE-MASON-MECOSTA-MONTCALM-MUSKEGON- NEWAYGO-OCEANA-OSCEOLA-OTTAWA-VAN BUREN- 1245 PM EDT THU MAY 20 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST LOWER MICHIGAN. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED ACROSS SOUTHWEST LOWER MICHIGAN THIS AFTERNOON...WITH MORE NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE THIS EVENING. SOME OF THE STORMS COULD BE SEVERE. WIND GUSTS TO 60 MPH AND HAIL UP TO ONE INCH IN DIAMETER 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 BE ACROSS SOUTHWEST LOWER MICHIGAN DURING MUCH OF THE PERIOD. AS A RESULT...THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED AND SOME OF THE THUNDERSTORMS COULD BE SEVERE. HEAVY RAINFALL AND FLOODING IS ALSO POSSIBLE. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON OR EVENING. OSTUNO
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
One inch diameter hail was reported by the public three miles north of Woodland.
Three quarters to one inch diameter hail was reported near Mason.
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: 5402108, 5402109.