1 lightning, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 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 Sioux Falls, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 15, 7:47 PM CST, 5 hours 13 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR SOUTHEAST SD/SOUTHWEST MN/NORTHWEST IA NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD 847 PM CDT SUN AUG 15 2004 .DISCUSSION... STRONG UPPER LEVEL WAVE DIVING SOUTH INTO NORTHERN SOUTH DAKOTA AT 0130Z. GOOD FORCING AND HEATING AHEAD OF THIS WAVE...BUT WITH MINIMAL MOISTURE...CONVECTION REALLY STRUGGLING. MCSS OVER CENTRAL NE ALSO LIKELY CUTTING OFF SOME OF OUR BETTER INFLOW OF MORE MOIST AIR. SO...CURRENT POPS NOT BAD...BUT READJUSTED PLACEMENT AND TIMING A BIT. THE SOUTHWEST CWA COULD ACTUALLY BE OUT OF IT FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE NIGHT...AND YKN TO AROUND SUX MAY HAVE TROUBLE GETTING ANYTHING. DECENT AREA OF CONVECTION OVER NORTH DAKOTA WITH COLD CORE ALOFT...SO THIS COULD SPARK A LITTLE MORE ACTIVITY LATER ON...SO CONTINUATION OF POPS OVERNIGHT LOOKS OK. && .FSD...WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... SD...NONE. MN...NONE. IA...NONE. NE...NONE. && 08
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD 1149 AM CDT SUN AUG 15 2004 SDZ038>040-050-052>071-MNZ071-072-080-081-089-090-097-098- IAZ001>003-012>014-020>022-031-032-NEZ013-014-161200- 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- 1149 AM CDT SUN AUG 15 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA... SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA...NORTHWEST IOWA...AND NORTHEAST NEBRASKA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THUNDERSTORMS... ISOLATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE BEFORE 2 PM ACROSS MUCH OF THE AREA. THESE STORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED TO BECOME SEVERE...ALTHOUGH PEA SIZE HAIL COULD ACCOMPANY THE STRONGEST STORMS. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP LATE THIS AFTERNOON NORTH OF A GREGORY SOUTH DAKOTA TO MARSHALL MINNESOTA LINE...THEN SPREAD SOUTHEAST ACROSS THE REMAINDER OF THE AREA DURING THE EVENING AND OVERNIGHT. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND INTO THE EVENING HOURS. LARGE HAIL WILL BE THE MAIN THREAT WITH THESE STORMS...BUT 60 MPH WIND GUSTS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE. AS THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE TO PUSH SOUTH ACROSS THE AREA OVERNIGHT THEY WILL GRADUALLY WEAKEN AND THE SEVERE WEATHER THREAT WILL DIMINISH. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY SOUTHEAST OF A LINE FROM VERMILLION SOUTH DAKOTA...TO ROCK RAPIDS IOWA TO WINDOM MINNESOTA...SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL LINGER INTO MONDAY MORNING. THESE THUNDERSTORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED TO BE SEVERE. THIS SAME AREA WILL SEE A SLIGHT CHANCE OF REDEVELOPMENT DURING THE AFTERNOON. IF STORMS CAN DEVELOP DURING THE AFTERNOON... AN ISOLATED STORM COULD PRODUCE PENNY SIZE HAIL. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL BE POSSIBLE AFTER 3 PM NORTH OF A GREGORY TO MARSHALL LINE. SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE REST OF SOUTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA AND SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA AFTER 6 PM. && FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/FSD. THIS INCLUDES THE GRAPHICAL HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD
808 PM CDT SUN AUG 15 2004
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0749 PM HAIL WHITE 44.43N 96.65W
08/15/2004 0.88 INCH BROOKINGS SD TRAINED SPOTTER
0756 PM HAIL 7 N BROOKINGS 44.41N 96.79W
08/15/2004 0.75 INCH BROOKINGS SD TRAINED SPOTTER
&&
08SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD 923 PM CDT SUN AUG 15 2004 SDZ038-050-052-053-057>059-063-064-160300- AURORA-BEADLE-BRULE-CHARLES MIX-DAVISON-DOUGLAS-GREGORY-JERAULD- SANBORN- 923 PM CDT SUN AUG 15 2004 ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 754 HAS EXPIRED... THE THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER HAS ENDED...THUS THE WATCH HAS BEEN ALLOWED TO EXPIRE. ADDITIONAL THUDNERSTORMS WILL REMAIN POSSIBLE THROUGHOUT THE NIGHT...WITH A FEW THAT COULD PRODUCE HAIL TO THE SIZ OF NICKELS. 08
The Sioux Falls radar (KFSD), 133 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 07:00 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Multiple lightning strikes damaged electrical lines and equipment at an electrical substation, resulting in a city wide power outage. An air conditioner was also damaged.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Minnesota in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyWarnings in Minnesota, 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: 5418783.