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 Duluth, MN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 16, 2:10 AM CST, 6 hours 50 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN 310 AM CDT SUN MAY 16 2004 .DISCUSSION... TODAY/S FORECAST FOCUS IS ON NEXT TWO SYSTEMS. FIRST...COLD FRONT RIGHT ON SCHEDULE WITH SHOWERS AND A FEW STORMS JUST AHEAD OF IT FROM BDE-FFM AND JUST MOVING INTO OUR WESTERN CWA EARLY THIS MORNING. NOT MUCH MOISTURE ATTM...BUT SOME GOOD WAA AHEAD OF THE FRONT AND UPPER DIVERGENCE IN RRQ OF JET. EXPECT SHOWERS AND A FEW STORMS TO MOVE OVER REST OF CWA WITH FRONT THIS MORNING. CANADIAN HIGH TO MOVE INTO THE NORTH THIS AFTERNOON..SO NO MORE RAIN UNTIL LATER TONIGHT THERE...BUT KEPT CHCS OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS GOING FOR REST OF AREA AS FRONT BECOMES STATIONARY OVR NWRN WI. LOLVL WAA DOESNT BEGIN UNTIL LATER THIS EVENING...BUT THERE WILL BE ENOUGH UPLIFT ACROSS FRONT AND PVA TO KEEP CHC OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS IN FCST THEN CONTINUE THROUGH MONDAY MORNING. EXPECT THEM TO TAPER OFF FROM WEST TO EAST SLOWLY MONDAY. IN THERE SHORT TERM ...THROUGH MONDAY...MODELS IN FAIRLY GOOD AGREEMENT...THEY DO DIVERGE A BIT BY MONDAY WITH MAX PRECIP AREA WITH ETA A BIT FARTHER NORTH. BUT IN ALL...THEY ALL POINT AT A SUNDAY NIGHT OF SOME GOOD RAIN ALONG AND NORTH OF WARM FRONT. && .DLH...WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES MN...NONE. WI...NONE. CLC
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN 700 AM CDT SUN MAY 16 2004 MNZ010>012-018>021-025-026-033>038-WIZ001>004-006>009-171230- ASHLAND-BAYFIELD-BURNETT-C. ST. LOUIS-CROW WING-DOUGLAS-IRON- KOOCHICHING-N. AITKIN-N. CASS-N. ITASCA-N. LAKE/N. COOK-N. ST. LOUIS- PINE-PRICE-S. AITKIN-S. CASS-S. COOK/LAKESHORE-S. ITASCA- S. LAKE/LAKESHORE-S. ST. LOUIS/CARLTON-SAWYER-WASHBURN- 730 AM CDT SAT MAY 15 2004 ...SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TONIGHT... THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEASTERN MINNESOTA AND NORTHWESTERN WISCONSIN. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THERE IS A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH DAMAGING DOWNBURST WINDS AND LARGE HAIL TONIGHT. THE SLIGHT CHANCE AREA IS SOUTH OF A LINE FROM BRAINERD THROUGH MOOSE LAKE TO HURLEY WI. THE BEST CHANCE FOR THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE AFTER 800 PM. OTHERWISE...SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED OVER MUCH OF THE REGION TODAY AND TONIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY. THUNDERSTORMS WILL LINGER INTO MONDAY OVER NORTHWESTERN WISCONSIN AND THE TWIN PORTS TO HINCKLEY AREAS. THUNDERSTORMS ARE AGAIN POSSIBLE SATURDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THIS EVENING...ESPECIALLY FROM THE TWIN PORTS AND NORTHWESTERN WISCONSIN. && MORE INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED AT THE FOLLOWING URL: HTTP://WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/DLH CLC
The Duluth radar (KDLH), 86 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 14:57 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck a home in West Duluth, blowing a back porch and stairway off the home and causing significant damage inside.
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, 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: 5400266.