5 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood, 1 hail, 1 flood, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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.
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 Wilmington, OH wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 18, 2:27 PM EST, 2 hours 58 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OH 327 PM EDT TUE MAY 18 2004 .DISCUSSION... A COLD FRONT WAS POSITIONED ACROSS NORTHERN INDIANA AND NW OHIO THIS AFTERNOON. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE FORMING IN THE UNSTABLE ATMOSPHERE ALONG AND SOUTH OF THE FRONT. WIND FIELDS WERE NOT OVERLY IMPRESSIVE BUT CAPES WERE OVER 2000 J/KG AND WBZ(S) WERE IN THE RANGE FAVORABLE FOR LARGE HAIL. ALSO MAX DELTA THETA-E(S) ON A MODIFIED 12Z ILN SOUNDING WAS 23...SUGGESTING DAMAGING WINDS WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE. THE SPC HAS PUT THE NORTHERN 2/3 OF THE FCST AREA IN A SVR TS WATCH UNTIL 8 PM THIS EVENING. AS THE NIGHT PROGRESSES...THE BNDRY WILL SAG SOUTH ACROSS THE FCST AREA. BOTH THE GFS AND ETA SHOW DECENT SFC CONVERGENCE WITH THE BNDRY AND PW(S) ARE PROGGED OVER 1.6 INCHES. BASED ON CURRENT CONVECTIVE DEVELOPMENT NEAR THE FRONT...AND FCST QPF...IT APPEARS THAT FLOODING COULD BE A PROBLEM AS THE BNDRY STRADDLES THE AREA OVERNIGHT. IN RESPONSE...HAVE PUT THE NORTHERN 2/3 OF THE FCST AREA IN A FLOOD WATCH UNTIL 10Z WEDNESDAY. DID NOT STRAY MUCH FROM CURRENT TEMPS AND NOT MANY CHANGES TO REST OF SHORT TERM IN GENERAL. BY CONSENSUS...THE BNDRY WILL MOVE NORTH AGAIN WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON INTO THE EVENING. && .ILN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... IN...FLOOD WATCH UNTIL 600 AM EDT WEDNESDAY FOR ZONES INZ050...INZ058>059...INZ066. KY...NONE. OH...FLOOD WATCH UNTIL 600 AM EDT WEDNESDAY FOR ZONES OHZ026... OHZ034>035...OHZ042>046...OHZ051>056...OHZ060>065...OHZ070>072... OHZ074. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OH 500 AM EDT TUE MAY 18 2004 INZ050-058-059-066-073>075-080-KYZ089>100-OHZ026-034-035-042>046- 051>056-060>065-070>074-077>082-088-181100- ADAMS OH-AUGLAIZE OH-BOONE KY-BRACKEN KY-BROWN OH-BUTLER OH- CAMPBELL KY-CARROLL KY-CHAMPAIGN OH-CLARK OH-CLERMONT OH-CLINTON OH- DARKE OH-DEARBORN IN-DELAWARE OH-FAIRFIELD OH-FAYETTE OH-FAYETTE IN- FRANKLIN OH-FRANKLIN IN-GALLATIN KY-GRANT KY-GREENE OH-HAMILTON OH- HARDIN OH-HIGHLAND OH-HOCKING OH-KENTON KY-LEWIS KY-LICKING OH- LOGAN OH-MADISON OH-MASON KY-MERCER OH-MIAMI OH-MONTGOMERY OH- OHIO IN-OWEN KY-PENDLETON KY-PICKAWAY OH-PIKE OH-PREBLE OH-RIPLEY IN- ROBERTSON KY-ROSS OH-SCIOTO OH-SHELBY OH-SWITZERLAND IN-UNION OH- UNION IN-WARREN OH-WAYNE IN- 500 AM EDT TUE MAY 18 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EASTERN INDIANA...NORTHERN KENTUCKY AND THE SOUTHWEST QUARTER OF OHIO. .DAY ONE...TODAY COLD FRONT WILL DRIFT SOUTH FROM THE GREAT LAKES INTO SOUTHERN OHIO AND INDIANA. THIS FRONT WILL BE THE FOCUS FOR THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY. DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING SOME OF THE THUNDERSTORMS COULD BECOME STRONG WITH THE MAIN THREAT BEING LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. AS THE EVENING WEARS ON THE THUNDERSTORMS WILL TRANSITION INTO HEAVY RAINERS...MAKING FLOODING THE MAIN THREAT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY ACTIVE WEATHER PATTERN WILL KEEP THE THREAT OF THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH MONDAY. SOME OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS COULD BECOME STRONG TO SEVERE. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED...ESPECIALLY THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. TIPTON
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OH
625 PM EDT TUE MAY 18 2004
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0625 PM HAIL HILLIARD 40.04N 83.14W
05/18/2004 0.75 INCH FRANKLIN OH TRAINED SPOTTER
&&The Cincinnati radar (KILN), 89 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:25 UTC.
5 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood, 1 hail, 1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Large limbs were knocked down. Penny size hail also occurred.
Several trees and power poles were downed near Choctaw Lake.
Power poles were knocked down.
Two trees and a few large limbs were downed along West Elkton-Gifford Road.
Trees were downed.
Thunderstorms produced around two inches of rain during the evening hours. The heavy rain caused flooding of roads across the county.
Numerous roads were flooded.
Fourteen homes sustained damage from high water in the Carbon Hill area. Several roads were flooded across the county.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Ohio in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyWarnings in Ohio, 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: 5400798, 5400799, 5400797, 5400800, 5400801, 5400802, 5400805, 5400804, 5400803.