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 Twin Cities, MN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Oct 8, 2:30 AM CST, 9 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN 330 AM CDT FRI OCT 8 2004 .DISCUSSION... FCST FOCUSES MAINLY THE NEXT 12 HOURS...WITH VRY LITTLE SENSIBLE WX AFT 00Z SAT...BUT THE NEXT 12 HOURS WL PROVE QUITE INTERESTING ACRS CWA. MDLS PLAYING CATCH-UP WITH RAPIDLY INTENSIFYING UPR TROF TO CROSS CWA TODAY. SYS NOTHING SHORT OF IMPRESSIVE...AND WV PIX SHOWING TRANSFORMATION OF UPR FLO AS TROF DEEPENS IN RESPONSE TO POTENT S/W ENERGY/JET MAX NOW WEST OF LK WINNIPEG. INITIAL S/W NOW LIFTING OUT OF ERN MN INTO NRN WI TAKING A RATHER SMALL BUT POTENT AREA OF RA/TS WITH IT. ALMOST AN INCH OF RAIN IN A NARROW CORRIDOR FM OWATONNA TO EAU CLAIRE THIS MORNING. EXPANSIVE ST FIELDS EXTENDS BACK TO THE WEST WHERE BAGGY SFC GRADIENT COMINGLES WITH WEAKENING PRE-FRONTAL TROF. LARGE F+ FIELD DVLOPD AFT MIDNIGHT IN SWRN MN AND THIS IS PRECARIOUSLY CLOSE TO CWA. STRENGTHENING COLD FRONT NOW FM DVL TO JMS TO ABR IS KICKING IT UP A NOTCH IN SPEED AND INTENSITY AND IS ASSOCIATED WITH SOME MID CLOUD AND ISO SHRA. REGARDING FG THIS MORNING...MUCH OF FG IN MY CWA WILL NOT BE DENSE...BUT WIDESPREAD 1-3SM FOG. SWRN CWA NR MN RVR VLY WLL SEE SOME DENSE FOG AND WL MONITOR. BUT SPEED OF COLD FRONT AND ADVANCING MID CLOUD WILL AID IN KEEPING FG FIELD FM BECOMING TOO ENTRENCHED OVR CWA. WL MENTION THRU ABT 14Z IN GRIDS. RAIN IN FAR ERN CWA SHOULD END BY 10Z...SO JUST AN ISO MENTION THRU THE VRY EARLY MORNING HOURS. Q/G FORCING SPREADS RAPIDLY ACRS CWA IN 12-18Z TIMEFRAME THIS MORNING AS S/W AND UPR TROF CONT TO SHARPEN UP AND INTENSIFY. AS THIS OCCURS...LOW/MID LVL FRONTOGENETICAL FIELDS RAPIDLY INCREASE AND SFC COLD FRNT WL BECOME BETTER DEFINED AND PICK UP SPEED...BEARING DOWN PREFRONTAL TROF. 60M (H5) TO 100M (H3) HEIGHT FALLS OVERSPREAD FNTL ZONE WITH RUC/ETA SHOWING TROP FOLD TO 650/550 MB NEEDLESS TO SAY...UPR FORCING VRY STRNG SO THINK FRONT WL GATHER A FEW MORE SHOWERS ALONG IT AS IT CROSSES CWA THIS MORNING ESP NRN CWA. WITH RICH MOISTURE STILL LYING AHEAD OF FRNT...RUC/ETA INDICATING ML CAPES TO 200 J/KG AND MARGINAL LIS. GIVEN INCREASING FRONTAL STRENGTH AS FRONT RACES EAST WITH UPR TROF TRYING TO CLOSE OFF...COULD BE A LINE OF LOW TOPPED STORMS RACE ACRS CWA LATE MORNING INTO EARLY AFTN. WL GO SCHC POPS OF TSRA WITH THIS NOTION. RIGHT EXIT REGION OF 70 KT MID LVL SPEED MAX ALSO FAVORS NRN CWA FOR POTENTIAL STORM DVLPMNT. AS QUICK AS IT COMES...IT GOES...AND THE AFTN PBLM WILL BE WIND...AND PLENTY OF IT. STRONG SUBSIDENCE SEEN IN BULLSEYE OF DIVERGING Q-VECS ALONG WITH STRONG CAA IN FAVORED SWRN QUAD OF UPR TROF IS SENDING ALARM THAT NEAR ADVRY WINDS PSBL ESP 18-22Z IN CNTL/ECNTL MN. ALIGNMENT OF Q-VECS TO MEAN WIND FIELD SUGGEST STRONG AGEOSTROPHIC COMPONENT HELPING MOMENTUM XFER IN STRONG CAA REGIME...WHICH WL ALSO OCCUR UNDER RAPID DRYING/SUNSHINE WHICH SHOULD AID MIXING. WL NOTE GUSTS TO 40 MPH AND WL BE VERY CLOSE TO WND ADVRY FOR A FEW HOURS IN MID/LATE AFTN HOURS. BUFR DATA AND MIXING CHANNEL SUPPORT THIS THINKING. TEMPS WL RISE ONLY INCREMENTALLY IN WRN/NRN CWA THIS AFTN IN STRONG CAA...DESPITE SUN AS H85 TEMPS FALL TO +3C. CLOUDS IN DEFORMATION ZONE OF UPR TROF WL SPILL SOUTHEAST INTO NRN CWA WITH A LATE AFTN SHRA THREAT. HI PRES AND UPR RIDGE WL QUICKLY CLEAR THINGS OUT TONIGHT WITH BUFR DATA SUGGESTING MORE FG A POSSIBILITY ACRS CWA. SAT...SAT NIGHT...SUN...CHARACTEERIZED BY PLENTY OF SUN...POOR MIXING...AND SEASONAL TEMPS. IDEAL. WANDERING UPR LOW WHICH MDLS HAVE HAD A TERRIBLE TIME WITH SHOULD STAY SOUTH/EAST OF CWA THRU SUN NIGHT. EXTENDED FORECAST...MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY 10/7 18Z DGEX STILL WANTS TO PUSH SOME PRECIP INTO SE MN ON MONDAY..FROM UPPER LOW TO SOUTH..BUT OPERATIONAL GFS AND CANADIAN KEEP PRECIP SOUTH. WILL KEEP DRY FOR OUR AREA. OTHERWISE STRONG COLD FRONT GENERALLY ON SCHED WITH MODELS FOR WED TIME FRAME WITH COLD LASTING INTO FRIDAY. DGEX GENERALLY IN AGREEMENT WITH 00Z UKMET WITH STRONG NW FLOW FOR THURSDAY. ENSEMBLE 850 TEMP ANOMS SHOWING COLDEST PERIOD FOR THURSDAY AND FRIDAY..SUGGESTING SOME BELOW NORMAL TEMPS. QUITE A CHANGE FROM WHAT WE HAVE SEEN. && MPX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... MN...NONE. WI...NONE. && BINAU/JPR
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN 600 AM CDT FRI OCT 8 2004 MNZ041>045-047>070-073>078-082>085-091>093-WIZ014>016-023>028-091100- ANOKA-BARRON-BENTON-BLUE EARTH-BROWN-CARVER-CHIPPEWA-CHISAGO-DAKOTA- DOUGLAS-DUNN-EAU CLAIRE-FARIBAULT-FREEBORN-GOODHUE-HENNEPIN-ISANTI- KANABEC-KANDIYOHI-LAC QUI PARLE-LE SUEUR-MARTIN-MCLEOD-MEEKER- MILLE LACS-MORRISON-NICOLLET-PEPIN-PIERCE-POLK-POPE-RAMSEY-REDWOOD- RENVILLE-RICE-RUSK-SCOTT-SHERBURNE-SIBLEY-ST CROIX-STEARNS-STEELE- STEVENS-SWIFT-TODD-WASECA-WASHINGTON-WATONWAN-WRIGHT-YELLOW MEDICINE- 406 AM CDT FRI OCT 8 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN MINNESOTA AND WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. RICHARDSON
The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 44 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 17:25 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
A home under construction in Randolph burned to the ground after being struck by lightning.
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, October 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: 5426927.