1 tornado, 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 Bismarck, ND wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 15, 2:00 PM CST, 5 hours 1 minute earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND 300 PM CDT THU JUL 15 2004 .SHORT TERM... WESTERN RIDGE REGIME IS SUCH THAT THE NORTHWEST BRANCH OF WESTERLIES ARE OVER NORTH DAKOTA. COUPLED WITH DIURNAL HEATING AND TYPICAL MID JULY DEWPOINTS...RIDGE RIDING SHORT WAVES WILL LIKELY KICK OFF EVENING AND NIGHTTIME THUNDERSTORMS ON MOST DAYS BETWEEN FRIDAY AND SUNDAY. IN THE SHORTER TERM THIS EVENING...IT APPEARS THAT THE CANADIAN VORT LOBE WILL CONFINE ITS CONVECTION TO THE EASTERN THIRD OF THE STATE. HOWEVER SOME ISOLATED LIGHT SHOWERS HAVE APPEARED IN FAR NORTHWEST NORTH DAKOTA...THE LIKELY RESULT OF A WEAK UPPER IMPULSE. WILL ADD THEM TO THE MIX FOR TONIGHTS FORECAST. .LONG TERM... SHORTWAVES RIDING UP AND OVER RIDGE WILL KEEP THE THREAT OF THUNDER INTO TUESDAY. SEVERAL SHORTWAVES WILL EVENTUALLY BREAK DOWN RIDGING PLACING THE AREA UNDER A UNSETTLE SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT. THE GFSLG HAS ITS BIAS BULLS EYE QPF TARGET ALONG THE SD/ND BORDER WEDNESDAY BUT WILL IGNORE HIGH VALUES. WILL KEEP CHANCE OF THUNDER IN SOUTHERN CWA ZONES ON WEDNESDAY. SURFACE COLD FRONT SWEEPS THRU THE AREA OVERNIGHT WEDNESDAY WITH HIGH PRESSURE BUILDING FROM THE WEST. THIS WILL BRING DRIER AND SOMEWHAT COOLER AIR TO THE REGION AT THE END OF THE WEEK. && .BIS WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && RL/RGT
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND 445 AM CDT THU JUL 15 2004 NDZ001>005-009>013-017>023-025-031>037-040>048-050-051-150945- ADAMS ND-BILLINGS ND-BOTTINEAU ND-BOWMAN ND-BURKE ND-BURLEIGH ND- DICKEY ND-DIVIDE ND-DUNN ND-EMMONS ND-FOSTER ND-GOLDEN VALLEY ND- GRANT ND-HETTINGER ND-KIDDER ND-LA MOURE ND-LOGAN ND-MCHENRY ND- MCINTOSH ND-MCKENZIE ND-MCLEAN ND-MERCER ND-MORTON ND-MOUNTRAIL ND- OLIVER ND-PIERCE ND-RENVILLE ND-ROLETTE ND-SHERIDAN ND-SIOUX ND- SLOPE ND-STARK ND-STUTSMAN ND-WARD ND-WELLS ND-WILLIAMS ND- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...BISMARCK...BOTTINEAU...BOWMAN...CROSBY... DICKINSON...JAMESTOWN...MINOT AND WILLISTON 445 AM CDT THU JUL 15 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN AND CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THERE IS A SLIGHT CHANCE FOR ISOLATED STRONG TO SEVERE STORMS IN EXTREME SOUTHEASTERN COUNTIES THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD DEVELOP IN WESTERN AND CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA ON FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. SOME OF THESE STORMS COULD BECOME SEVERE...WITH HAIL AND STRONG WINDS WESTERN COUNTIES...AND HEAVY RAINS CENTRAL. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. SHULZ
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
444 PM CDT THU JUL 15 2004
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1000 PM HAIL 18 SW SCRANTON 45.96N 103.41W
07/14/2004 2.00 INCH BOWMAN ND PUBLIC
HEN EGG SIZE HAIL REPORTED BY THE PUBLIC. EMERGENCY
MANAGEMENT REPORTED THAT SNOW PLOWS WERE DISPATCHED TO
CLEAR HAIL OFF OF A PORTION OF HIGHWAY 85 AND THAT THERE
WAS SOME CROP DAMAGE AND WINDOWS BROKEN OUT IN THE AREA
AS A RESULT OF THE STORM.
0945 PM TSTM WND GST 14 SW SCRANTON 46.00N 103.35W
07/14/2004 60 MPH BOWMAN ND TRAINED SPOTTER
0900 PM HAIL 15 SE BOWMAN 46.03N 103.18W
07/14/2004 0.75 INCH BOWMAN ND PUBLIC
PENNY SIZE HAIL AT BOWMAN HALEY DAM
0855 PM HAIL 10 N RHAME 46.38N 103.65W
07/14/2004 1.75 INCH SLOPE ND PUBLIC
GOLFBALL SIZE HAIL REPORTED BY PUBLIC
&&
CJS/WAAThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
The tornado was thin and ropelike. The tornado was observed on the ground in open country for 2 or 3 minutes before lifting and dissipated.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in North Dakota in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for North Dakota, 2004Warnings in North Dakota, July 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: 5412474.