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 31, 2:06 AM CST, 3 hours 54 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR SOUTHEAST SD/SOUTHWEST MN/NORTHWEST IA NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD 306 AM CDT TUE AUG 31 2004 .DISCUSSION... CONVECTION CONTINUES TO PRESS EAST THIS MORNING AND WILL LIKELY NOT WEAKEN UNTIL AFTER SUNRISE. NICE LLJ FOCUSING ACTIVITY...WHICH DOES FINALLY VEER AND WEAKEN AFTER 12Z. LOOKS LIKE A WEAK BOUNDARY SHOULD SLIP INTO THE SOUTHERN PART OF THE CWA TODAY...AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS COULD DEVELOP THERE...MAINLY SOUTH OF A SPENCER IOWA TO VERMILLION LINE. STILL EXPECT THINGS TO CLEAR OUT PRETTY NICELY BEHIND THIS...SO TEMPERATURE WILL NOT BE TOO AFFECTED BY THIS. NEXT CHANCE FOR CONVECTION LOOKS LIKE WEDNESDAY NIGHT...MAINLY IN NW IA...WHERE RETURN FLOW OVER WEAK BOUNDARY EXISTS. HAVE ADDED ISO TSRA TO THAT AREA. THIS SHOULD SET UP A VERY HOT THURSDAY AS MAIN SYSTEM BEGINS TO DIG INTO THE ROCKIES. STILL LOOKING LIKE MAINLY POST FRONTAL PRECIPITATION WITH THIS SYSTEM...AND WILL GEAR TIMING OF POPS TOWARDS THIS. WILL PROBABLY SEE A PREFRONTAL TROF DEVELOP OVER CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA ON THURSDAY AFTERNOON WHERE STRONGEST HEATING AND MIXING OCCUR. THIS COULD BE A POTENTIAL SPOT FOR DEVELOPMENT...BUT WITH DRY CONDITIONS AND WARM MID LEVELS...WILL NOT ADD ANY POPS. FRIDAY SHOULD BE OUR BEST SHOT AT PRECIPITATION...AS MODELS CONTINUE TO SLOW A BIT AND BEST FRONTOGENESIS AND UPPER LEVEL FORCING LAG. BIG QUESTION FOR FRIDAY WILL BE IF ANY PREFRONTAL CONVECTION DEVELOPS ON THURSDAY EVENING AND THEN HOW MUCH LOW LEVEL WINDS BACK ON FRIDAY AHEAD OF FRONT. BEST SCENARIO FOR POTENTIAL WIDESPREAD CONVECTION ON FRIDAY WOULD BE FOR PREFRONTAL CONVECTION THUR EVENING TO DROP A BOUNDARY INTO NORTHERN NEBRASKA...THEN HAVE THAT ADVECT NORTH DURING THE DAY AND HAVE SOMETHING TO FOCUS ACTIVITY AHEAD OF THE MAIN FRONT FRIDAY AFTERNOON. STILL LOOKING LIKE COOLER WEATHER FOR THE WEEKEND. .FSD...WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... SD...NONE. MN...NONE. IA...NONE. NE...NONE. && 08
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD 520 AM CDT TUE AUG 31 2004 SDZ038>040-050-052>071-MNZ071-072-080-081-089-090-097-098- IAZ001>003-012>014-020>022-031-032-NEZ013-014-011200- 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- 520 AM CDT TUE AUG 31 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA... SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA...NORTHWEST IOWA...AND NORTHEAST NEBRASKA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THUNDERSTORMS... A COOL FRONT WILL SLOWLY SLIDE ACROSS THE AREA DURING THE MORNING HOURS BEFORE STALLING ACROSS NORTHWEST IOWA THIS AFTERNOON. THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE AHEAD OF THIS FRONT DURING THE MORNING HOURS BEFORE GRADUALLY ENDING ACROSS THE AREA AFTER 9 AM. THESE STORMS WILL MAINLY REMAIN ALONG AND EAST OF INTERSTATE 29. A FEW OF THESE STORMS COULD PRODUCE NICKEL SIZE HAIL. THERE IS ALSO A SLIGHT CHANCE THAT THUNDERSTORMS WILL REDEVELOP ALONG THE FRONT DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING HOURS. THESE STORMS...IF THEY FORM WILL REMAIN SOUTH OF A SIOUX CITY TO SPIRIT LAKE LINE. THESE STORMS COULD PRODUCE LARGE HAIL AND WIND GUSTS TO 60 MPH. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE POSSIBLE THIS MORNING EAST OF INTERSTATE 29...AND AGAIN THIS AFTERNOON SOUTH OF A SIOUX CITY TO SPIRIT LAKE LINE AFTER 3 PM. && FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/FSD. THIS INCLUDES THE GRAPHICAL HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK. JRM
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD
610 AM CDT TUE AUG 31 2004
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0553 AM HAIL SIOUX FALLS 43.54N 96.73W
08/31/2004 0.25 INCH MINNEHAHA SD TRAINED SPOTTER
&&
DEMORINThe Sioux Falls radar (KFSD), 114 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 11:58 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck and damaged the brick chimney at the public safety building.
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: 5418943.