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 Sioux Falls, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 3, 2:30 AM CST, 6 hours 10 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR SOUTHEAST SD/SOUTHWEST MN/NORTHWEST IA NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD ... CORRECTION OF DATE 330 AM CDT TUE AUG 3 2004 .DISCUSSION... ANOTHER DAY...ANOTHER ROUND OF CONVECTION. IN THE SHORT TERM...A BAND OF TS HAS SET UP NORTH OF THE H9-H85 BOUNDARY IN A NW TO SE ORIENTATION. IT EXTENDS FM NW SD TO CNTRL IA. LOOKING AT THE LATEST META DATA...IT APPEARS THAT THIS BNDRY IS LOCKED INTO PLACE FOR NOW...THEREFORE BELIEVE THAT THE CRNT SITUATION MAY NOT CHANGE MUCH THRU ABOUT 14Z OR 15Z THIS MRNG. STRONG ERLY FETCH OF LOW LVL AIR IS FEEDING INTO THE WRN SD ACTIVITY...WITH THE LOW LVL JET ABOUT 35 KTS. AGREE WITH SPC THAT WHEN LOOKING AT THE H9 STREAMLINES...FLOW ACTUALLY DIVERGES CLOSE TO THE NEB BORDER. SINCE WERE N OF THE LOW LVL BNDRY...ABUNDANT STRATUS IS FORMING UNDER THE INVERSION THROUGHOUT THE CWFA...WITH AREAS OF FOG ON THE UPSLOPE SIDE OF THE BUFFALO RIDGE IN SW MN AND NW IA. NOT GOING TO SPLIT HAIRS WITH THE FOG AND WITH THE ERLY FLOW CONTINUING...WORDED THE ENTIRE CWA EITHER PATCHY OR AREAS OF FOG THIS MRNG. WILL KEEP THE BAND OF SCT TS GOING OVER PARTS OF THE SRN CWA THRU 15Z...WITH ISOLD ELSEWHERE. FOR THIS AFTN AND EVENING...WAVE CRNTLY SHOWN ON THE WV IMAGERY IN THE INTERMOUNTAIN WEST...IS FCST TO MOV INTO THE AREA LATE TDAY SETTING UP WHAT COULD BE A FAIR AMNT OF SHRA/TS ARND. NGM/ETA DEPICT THE H9-H85 BNDRY STAYING PUT JUST TO THE SOUTH OF THE CWFA...WITH THE GFS LIFTING THE WHOLE NWD. NOT BUYING THE GFS SOLN IN THAT WITH THE CRNT ROUND OF CONVECTION...THOUGHTS ARE THAT NMRS OUTFLOW WL NOT ALLOW THE BNDRY TO LIFT NWD. THEREFORE HIGHS WL BE HINDERED TDAY ALSO...BUT REMAINING HUMID. AND KSUX MAY APPROACH 90 AS THEY ARE THE CLOSEST TO THE LOW LVL BNDRY...BUT COOLER ELSEWHERE. SO WITH THE HIGH MSTR FEED CONTINUING AND ABUNDANT LIFT...SCT TS IS WARRANTED LATER THIS AFTN CWA WIDE...WITH LIKELY POPS GOING MANY AREAS TNGT. OPTED TO GO ONLY SCT POPS IN THE CORNERS TNGT...ARND THE MARSHALL AND CHAMBERLAIN VICINITIES. MARSHALL LOOKS TO BE GETTING TOO FAR NORTH OF THE BNDRY AND DEEPER INTO THE DRIER NE FLOW OF AIR. CHAMBERLAIN IS DEEPER INTO THE OVERALL NWRLY WRAP ARND FLOW. FOR SVR TS CHANCES LATER TDAY AND TNGT...LAPSE RATES ARE NOT ALL THAT IMPRESSIVE AS WELL AS BUOYANCY AND DEEP LYR SPEED SHEAR. SOME INSTABILITY DOES EXIST AS THE MID LVLS BEGIN TO COOL...SO CANNOT RULE OUT SOME ISOLD HAILERS. BUT OVERALL IVE NEVER BEEN REAL IMPRESSED ABOUT SVR CHCS WITH THE LOW LVL FLOW THRU 2 KM OUT OF THE EAST. HOWEVER IF THE GFS WOULD HAPPEN TO PAN OUT IN LIFTING THE LOW LVL BNDRY NWD...THEN SVR CHCS WOULD OBVIOUSLY BE MUCH GREATER...BUT NOT PLAYING THAT CARD RIGHT NOW. ON WED...ETA KEEPS A VORT FILAMENT IN A NW TO SE ORIENTATION BISECTING THE CWA. WITH ABUNDANT CLOUDS ARND...-SHRA MAY LINGER NEAR THIS VORT FILAMENT AND DREW GRIDS ACCORDINGLY. CLOUDS FCST TO CLEAR OUT OF THE CWA WED NIGHT. LOWERED LOWS A FAIR AMNT FOR WED NIGHT AND THUR NIGHT...WITH CRNT FCST H85 TEMPS ON THE MODELS...AND A MAJOR CANADIAN SFC HIGH OOZING DOWN FM CANADA. MSTR FETCH EXISTS JUST WEST OF THE CWA LATE WED NIGHT AND THURSDAY ARND THE PERIPHERY OF THE HIGH...WITH CHAMBERLAIN AND GREGORY COUNTY ON THE EDGE. BUT DO NOT BELIEVE THE SW CWA WILL SEE ENUF CLOUDS TO AFFECT TEMPS ONE WAY OR ANOTHER. WED AND THUR WILL BE SUBSTANTIALLY COOLER AND LESS HUMID IN THE CWA THAT WHAT WE HAVE BEEN EXPERIENCING. DID NOT LOOK AT THE EXTENDED WITH CRNT WX GOING ON. && .FSD...WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... SD...NONE. MN...NONE. IA...NONE. NE...NONE. && MJF
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD 450 AM CDT TUE AUG 03 2004 SDZ038>040-050-052>071-MNZ071-072-080-081-089-090-097-098- IAZ001>003-012>014-020>022-031-032-NEZ013-014-041200- AURORA-BEADLE-BON HOMME-BROOKINGS-BRULE-BUENA VISTA IA- CHARLES MIX-CHEROKEE IA-CLAY-CLAY IA-COTTONWOOD MN-DAKOTA NE- DAVISON-DICKINSON IA-DIXON NE-DOUGLAS-GREGORY-HANSON-HUTCHINSON- IDA IA-JACKSON MN-JERAULD-KINGSBURY-LAKE-LINCOLN-LINCOLN MN- LYON IA-LYON MN-MCCOOK-MINER-MINNEHAHA-MOODY-MURRAY MN-NOBLES MN- OBRIEN IA-OSCEOLA IA-PIPESTONE MN-PLYMOUTH IA-ROCK MN-SANBORN- SIOUX IA-TURNER-UNION-WOODBURY IA-YANKTON- 450 AM CDT TUE AUG 03 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA... SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA...NORTHWEST IOWA...AND NORTHEAST NEBRASKA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THUNDERSTORMS... THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ALONG AND WEST OF A HURON TO PLATTE SOUTH DAKOTA LINE EARLY THIS MORNING. THERE IS ALSO A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE ENTIRE AREA LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THE MAIN THREAT IS HAIL UP TO ONE AND A QUARTER INCH IN DIAMETER. IN ADDITION...SOME DAMAGING WINDS COULD ALSO OCCUR OVER NORTHWEST IOWA...FAR NORTHEAST NEBRASKA...AND EXTREME SOUTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA WHERE THE STRONGEST CLUSTER OF THUNDERSTORMS MAY DEVELOP. WIND AND FOG... AREAS OF DENSE FOG WILL OCCUR THROUGH MID MORNING...MAINLY OVER PARTS OF SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA AND NORTHWEST IOWA. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL BE POSSIBLE EARLY THIS MORNING ALONG AND WEST OF A HURON TO PLATTE SOUTH DAKOTA LINE. SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL AGAIN BE POSSIBLE AFTER 3 PM OVER THE ENTIRE AREA. && FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/FSD. THIS INCLUDES THE GRAPHICAL HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD
939 AM CDT TUE AUG 03 2004
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0920 AM TSTM WND GST 10 N PLANKINTON 43.86N 98.48W
08/03/2004 80 MPH AURORA SD PUBLIC
75 TO 80 MPH WIND GUSTS. LARGE TREE KNOCKED DOWN AND FELL
ON TRAILER.
0930 AM TSTM WND GST 7 SW LETCHER 43.83N 98.24W
08/03/2004 60 MPH DAVISON SD PUBLIC
TREE BRANCHES DOWN
0934 AM TSTM WND GST 9 SE WESSINGTON SPRINGS 43.99N 98.44W
08/03/2004 75 MPH JERAULD SD PUBLIC
70 TO 75 MPH WIND GUSTS BLEW BRICKS OFF OF BUILDING ROOF.
&&
DEMORINThe Aberdeen radar (KABR), 155 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 14:40 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck an electrical substation, causing power outages in Wessington Springs and in nearby rural areas.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in South Dakota in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyWarnings in South Dakota, August 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: 5419801.