Flooding in North Dakota, August 1 to 31, 2004

Name: Flooding in North Dakota, August 1 to 31, 2004
Start: 2004-08-01T00:00
End: 2004-08-31T23:59
Location: North Dakota

August 1 to 31, 2004 · NWS FGF · 3 events in 3 counties and zones

Through the month of August, the level of Devils Lake went through a slow fall. 50 feet MSL.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 3 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 3

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS FGF wrote it up.

Through the month of August, the level of Devils Lake went through a slow fall. At the start of the month, the lake was around 1448.70 feet MSL, while at the end of the month, the level was around 1448.50 feet MSL. The lake had a reported area of 136,000 acres and a volume of 2.65 million acre-feet. The high lake levels continued to threaten and damage roads in its vicinity. The Spirit Lake Nation reported several roads being undermined by lake water erosion. The Wood-Rutten Road, which crosses from Ramsey to Benson counties south of Crary, qualified for federal funding by the Federal Highway Administration. A new road and bridge will be constructed over the old road site. This road has been closed due to high water levels on Devils Lake. The cost of the project was estimated at $7.4 million. The North Dakota Parks and Recreation Department recommended closing Graham's Island State Park, unless its access road could be raised. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also started raising the dike which protects the city of Devils Lake. This project is set for completion in the fall of 2005, at a cost of about $7 million. Nelson county also reported problems with the rising Stump Lake. Water continued to flow from the east end of Devils Lake, through the Jerusalem Coulee, and in to Stump Lake. Stump Lake had a level of 1421.77 feet MSL, giving it an area of 8,900 acres and a volume of 204,800 acre-feet. Stump Lake rose 2.75 feet since June and 6.75 feet since the end of March. An additional 780 acres of land were flooded around Stump Lake just this year. Additional rises would threaten county roads 15 and 23, and also emergency services to those areas.

What forecasters said that day

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 Forks, ND wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 31, 7:15 PM CST, 4 hours 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 31, 7:15 PM CST, 4 hours 45 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
815 PM CDT SAT JUL 31 2004

.DISCUSSION...EXCEPT FOR A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEARING THE U.S.
BORDER/KITTSON COUNTY THE SEVERE THREAT HAS DIMINISHED WITH SURFACE
COOLING IMMINENT...NO LOW LEVEL JET TO KEEP IT GOING AT AN ELEVATED
LEVEL THOUGH THE RESPONSIBLE SHORTWAVE WILL NOT FINALLY REACH LAKE
OF THE WOODS FOR ANOTHER 2 HOURS OR SO. WILL TAKE OUT THUNDER FROM
FORECAST EXCEPT FOR KITTSON COUNTY EASTWARD AS WE WERE TOO STABLE
FOR MOST OF THE AREA TO GET THEM STARTED...AND WILL ONLY MENTION
ISOLATED THUNDER THERE.

SKIES ARE BECOMING MOSTLY CLEAR BEHIND THE SHORTWAVE AND WILL HAVE
TO CONSIDER DENSE FOG. THAT SEEMS MOST LIKELY EAST OF RED RIVER
VALLEY AND MAY CONFINE IT THERE AS WE WOULD USUALLY NEED SOME GROUND
MOISTURE IN THE VALLEY. UPDATED FORECAST WILL BE DONE BY 845 PM.

&&

.FGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...

ND...NONE.
MN...NONE.

&&

GV

Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 31, 6:26 AM CST, 17 hours 34 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...CORRECTION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS
726 AM CDT SAT JUL 31 2004

MNZ001>009-013>017-022>024-027>032-040-NDZ006>008-014>016-024-
026>030-038-039-049-052>054-311400-
BARNES-BENSON-CASS-CAVALIER-CLAY-EAST BECKER-EAST MARSHALL-
EAST OTTER TAIL-EAST POLK-EASTERN WALSH COUNTY-EDDY-GRAND FORKS-
GRANT-GRIGGS-HUBBARD-KITTSON-LAKE OF THE WOODS-MAHNOMEN-NELSON-
NORMAN-NORTH BELTRAMI-NORTH CLEARWATER-PEMBINA-PENNINGTON-RAMSEY-
RANSOM-RED LAKE-RICHLAND-ROSEAU-SARGENT-SOUTH BELTRAMI-
SOUTH CLEARWATER-STEELE-TOWNER-TRAILL-WADENA-WEST BECKER-
WEST MARSHALL-WEST OTTER TAIL-WEST POLK-WESTERN WALSH COUNTY-WILKIN-
726 AM CDT SAT JUL 31 2004

CORRECTION TO LAST SENTENCE

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED ACROSS MUCH OF EASTERN NORTH
DAKOTA AND PARTS OF NORTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA THIS
AFTERNOON AND NIGHT...
...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE AGAIN SUNDAY AND MONDAY...

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA...WEST
CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA.

.DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT

A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE FORECAST FOR PARTS OF
EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA SOUTH OF A LINE FROM
LANGDON NORTH DAKOTA TO WADENA MINNESOTA. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS
SHOULD DEVELOP AFTER 3 PM AND WILL CONTINUE OVERNIGHT. LARGE
HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS AND ISOLATED TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE.
THE ATMOSPHERE WILL BECOME UNSTABLE BY LATE AFTERNOON WITH DEWPOINTS
RISING INTO THE 60S. A WEAK COLD OVER SOUTHERN CANADA WILL EXTEND
FROM NEAR BAUDETTE TO NORTHWEST SOUTH DAKOTA BY LATE AFTERNOON.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS PARTS OF WEST CENTRAL
MINNESOTA ON SUNDAY MORNING. THE THUNDERSTORMS MAY PRODUCE LARGE
HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS AND WOULD BE MOST LIKELY SOUTH OF A LINE
FROM PARK RAPIDS TO FERGUS FALLS MINNESOTA.

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE ACROSS SOUTHEAST NORTH
DAKOTA AND WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA ON MONDAY. LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING
WINDS WILL BE POSSIBLE.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED.

HOPPES

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 31, 8:37 PM CST, 3 hours 23 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS
937 PM CDT SAT JUL 31 2004

..TIME...   ...EVENT...     ...CITY LOCATION...      ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....     ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0645 PM     HAIL             3 N LANGDON             48.81N 98.37W
07/31/2004  0.75 INCH        CAVALIER           ND   TRAINED SPOTTER

0657 PM     HAIL             LANGDON                 48.76N 98.37W
07/31/2004  0.75 INCH        CAVALIER           ND   TRAINED SPOTTER

&&

TG

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Ramsey

When: August 1, 12:00 AM CST to August 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Ramsey forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 48.269, -98.720 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Benson

When: August 1, 12:00 AM CST to August 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Benson forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 48.069, -99.366 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Nelson

When: August 1, 12:00 AM CST to August 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Nelson forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 47.922, -98.192 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Flood: Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in North Dakota in 2004 Every state in 2004 This day in weather history Warnings in North Dakota, August 2004

Sources

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: 5421145, 5421146, 5421147.