Flash Flood in North Dakota, July 2 to 3, 2004

Name: Flash Flood in North Dakota, July 2 to 3, 2004
Start: 2004-07-02T22:30
End: 2004-07-03T01:00
Location: North Dakota

July 2 to 3, 2004 · NWS BIS · 1 event in 1 county or zone

30 inches of rain in a 21/2 hour period causing water flowing over roads and washing out driveways. Water accumulated over land flooding yards and basements.

Where it happened

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.

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: $15,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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 BIS wrote it up.

Heavy rains over Stutsman county brought 6.30 inches of rain in a 21/2 hour period causing water flowing over roads and washing out driveways. Water accumulated over land flooding yards and basements. Flash flooding mainly in Chicago Township.

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 Bismarck, ND wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 2, 2:50 PM CST, 7 hours 40 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 2, 2:50 PM CST, 7 hours 40 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
350 PM CDT FRI JUL 2 2004

.SHORT TERM...
FORECAST PROBLEMS IN THE SHORT TERM ARE CONVECTION CHANCES AND
TIMING. ACTUALLY NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES FROM WHAT WE ALREADY HAVE
GOING. IN THE NEAR TERM...UNSTABLE ATMS THIS AFTERNOON WITH LIFTED
INDEX -2 TO -6 ACROSS MUCH OF CWA. MODIFIED MESOETA SOUNDINGS
INDICATED SOME PRETTY DECENT HELICITY OVER FAR EASTERN CWA. GROUND
TRUTH REPORT OF FUNNEL CLOUD VERIFIES POTENTIAL FOR ROTATING STORMS.
CURRENT TORNADO WATCH ALONG AND EAST OF TROUGH LINE THAT CUTS
THROUGH DICKEY AND LAMOURE COUNTIES. THIS WILL RUN UNTIL 9 PM CDT.
ALTHOUGH STILL VERY UNSTABLE...SHEAR IS MUCH LESS OVER REST OF
WESTERN AND CENTRAL CWA...SO MAIN THREAT WILL BE A POSSIBLE
DOWNDRAFT GUST IN AN ISOLATED SEVERE CELL. CHANCES ARE SLIM ENOUGH
THAT WILL NOT MENTION SEVERE EXCEPT FOR WATCH AREA. HEAVY RAIN IS
ALSO LIKELY AS PLENTY OF LOW LEVEL MOISTURE AVAILABLE.

SECONDARY FRONT DROPS SOUTH THROUGH CWA ON SATURDAY. STILL ENOUGH
INSTABILITY AROUND WITH DAYTIME HEATING TO MENTION ANOTHER CHANCE OF
THUNDERSTORMS. MORE SIGNIFICANT SYSTEM TAKING SHAPE FOR SUNDAY NIGHT
AND MONDAY AS SHORTWAVE TROUGH DEVELOPS A SURFACE INVERTED TROUGH
INTO SOUTHERN NORTH DAKOTA. SOME TIMING DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ETA/GFS
BUT BOTH BRING CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS TO WESTERN AND CENTRAL NORTH
DAKOTA ON MONDAY.

.LONG TERM...
MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY...AFTER SOME WRAP AROUND LINGERING
SHOWERS MONDAY NIGHT IN EASTERN COUNTIES...WEAK SURFACE HIGH
PRESSURE MOVES INTO THE NORTHERN PLAINS OUT OF CANADA. GUIDANCE
CONTINUES TO KEEP TEMPERATURES COOLER ON TUESDAY...AND I TRENDED
DOWN HIGHS ONCE AGAIN. NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT TURNS SOUTHWEST BY
WEDNESDAY NIGHT...AS H500 RIDGE AXIS MOVES INTO THE NORTHERN
PLAINS...AND THEN SLOWLY EASTWARD. THIS WILL SET UP AN ACTIVE
SCENARIO FOR THE END OF THE WORK WEEK. I SET UP WARMING TREND
WEDNESDAY...HIKING UP TEMPERATURES THURSDAY AND FRIDAY.

&&

.BIS WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NONE.

&&

TWH/SHULZ

Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 2, 4:04 AM CST, 18 hours 26 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
504 AM CDT FRI JUL 2 2004

NDZ001>005-009>013-017>023-025-031>037-040>048-050-051-031003-
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
504 AM CDT FRI JUL 2 2004

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN AND CENTRAL NORTH
DAKOTA.

.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...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 2, 4:30 PM CST, 6 hours before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
530 PM CDT FRI JUL 02 2004

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

0454 PM     HAIL             MARION                  46.61N 98.33W
07/02/2004  1.00 INCH        LAMOURE            ND   CO-OP OBSERVER

            SMALLER HAIL COVERED THE GROUND.

&&

JENSEN

Local storm report, Jul 2, 4:48 PM CST, 5 hours 42 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
548 PM CDT FRI JUL 02 2004

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

0530 PM     HAIL             LA MOURE                46.36N 98.30W
07/02/2004  0.75 INCH        LAMOURE            ND   CO-OP OBSERVER

            PLENTY OF SMALLER HAIL.

&&

JENSEN

Special weather statement, Jul 2, 8:00 PM CST, 2 hours 30 minutes before

NDZ001>054-030900-

STATE FORECAST FOR NORTH DAKOTA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
900 PM CDT FRI JUL 2 2004

.TONIGHT...CLEAR TO PARTLY CLOUDY. ISOLATED EVENING THUNDERSTORMS
EAST. LOWS 55 TO 65.
.SATURDAY...PARTLY SUNNY. A SLIGHT CHANCE OF AFTERNOON
THUNDERSTORMS. HIGHS 75 TO 85.
.INDEPENDENCE DAY...VARIABLE CLOUDINESS AND COOLER. A CHANCE OF
THUNDERSTORMS WEST AND CENTRAL. LOWS IN THE 50S. HIGHS 65 TO 75.
.MONDAY...A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS. LOWS 50 TO 55. HIGHS 70 TO 75.
.TUESDAY....PARTLY SUNNY. LOWS IN THE LOWER 50S. HIGHS 70 TO 75.
.WEDNESDAY...PARTLY CLOUDY WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE OF AFTERNOON
THUNDERSTORMS WESTERN THIRD. LOWS IN THE MID 50S. HIGHS 75 TO 80.

LM

Special weather statement, Jul 2, 8:08 PM CST, 2 hours 22 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
908 PM CDT FRI JUL 2 2004

NDZ048-051-030208-
DICKEY ND-LA MOURE ND-
908 PM CDT FRI JUL 2 2004

TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 534 WHICH WAS IN EFFECT FOR DICKEY AND LAMOURE
COUNTES HAS EXPIRED. THUNDERSTORMS IN THE REGION HAVE WEAKENED AND
ARE NO LONGER A THREAT.

LM

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 138 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 04:28 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Stutsman

When: July 2, 10:30 PM CST to July 3, 1:00 AM CST
Where: Stutsman County, 3 mi S of Medina
Property damage: $15,000
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 46.979, -98.959 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Flash Flood: Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.

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, July 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: 5412485.