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 Aberdeen, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 12, 2:20 AM CST, 6 hours 10 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD 320 AM CDT MON JUL 12 2004 .SHORT TERM...TODAY THROUGH 12Z THURSDAY. MAIN FOCUS FOR SHORT TERM FORECAST REVOLVES AROUND TIMING PCPN TODAY...THEN DEALING WITH PCPN CHCS FOR FAR SWRN CWA MID WEEK. LOLVL JET ACROSS CENTRAL SODAK HAS FIRED OFF AREA OF ELEVATED TSRA FROM KABR AND AREAS WEST. NOTHING IS REALLY ORGANIZED WITH CONVECTION...AND ALTHO SOME DECENT RAINERS ARE EMBEDDED WITHIN THE AREA...MOVEMENT IS SUCH THAT FLOODING RAINS NOT VERY LIKELY. WILL CANCEL FLOOD WATCH WITH ZONE ISSUANCE. FOR LATER TODAY...COLD FRONT SLOWLY PASSES EAST THROUGH CWA...WITH MODELS NOW PROGGING A SLIGHTLY SLOWER PASSAGE THAN PREVIOUSLY SEEN. WITH SCATTERED BOUNDARIES FROM THIS MORNINGS CONVECTION...AND BETTER RESOLUTION OF SECOND 5H WAVE PASSING THROUGH NERN CWA BY 00Z TUESDAY...EXPECT SCT TSRA TO AGAIN DEVELOP LATER THIS AFTN...BASICALLY ALONG THE I-29 CORRIDOR AND EAST. FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE NEAR TERM...THINGS QUIET DOWN SOMEWHAT. WITH CLOSED 5H VORTEX FLATTENING 5H RIDGE OVER CWA TODAY...RIDGE REBOUNDS BACK TO THE WEST OF CWA...WITH CWA IN NW FLOW ALOFT. COLD FRONT SAGS THROUGH CWA BY 12Z TUESDAY...WITH CANADIAN HIGH NOSING INTO NERN CWA. ONE PROBLEM AREA IS WITH WESTERN EDGE OF FRONTAL BOUNDARY BEGINNING TO LIFT SLOWLY TO THE NORTH...BECOMING DRAPED ACROSS SWRN SODAK BY 12Z WEDNESDAY. THERE IS ENOUGH 7H AND 85H THETA-E FORCING TO WARRANT A SLIGHT CHC TSRA TUESDAY NIGHT ACROSS FAR SW CWA. OTW LOOKS TO BE DRY AND SEASONABLE THROUGH 12Z THURSDAY. .LONG TERM...12Z THURSDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. EXTENDED STARTS OFF WITH CONTINUATION OF 5H RIDGE POSITIONED WEST OF CWA WITH DRY NOW FLOW ALOFT. PROBLEM STILL LOOKS TO BE FRIDAY EVENING/NIGHT AS GFS CONTS TO SHOW 7H TROF MOVING THROUGH ERN CWA 00Z SAT-12Z SATURDAY. WEAK 5H WAVE DROPS QUICKLY DOWN BACKSIDE OF 5H RIDGE...WITH 85H FRONT DRAPED E-W ACROSS CWA BY 12Z SATURDAY. THINK THAT MOST OF PCPN WILL BE ACROSS ERN CWA...SO HAVE REMOVED WESTERN SECTIONS FROM PCPN MENTION. NOT SURE THAT PCPN WILL ALSO LAST AS LONG AS WE CURRENTLY ARE FCSTING...BUT LEFT ALONE FOR CONTINUITY SAKE. REMAINDER OF EXTENDED FORECAST LOOKS TO BE DRY. && .ABR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... SD...NONE. MN...NONE. && HINTZ
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD 542 AM CDT MON JUL 12 2004 MNZ039-046-SDZ006>008-011-018>023-131039- BIG STONE-BROWN-CLARK-CODINGTON-DAY-DEUEL-GRANT-HAMLIN-MARSHALL- ROBERTS-SPINK-TRAVERSE- 542 AM CDT MON JUL 12 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PARTS OF CENTRAL...NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA...AS WELL AS BIG STONE AND TRAVERSE COUNTIES IN MINNESOTA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A COLD FRONT WILL SLOWLY MAKE ITS WAY ACROSS NORTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA THIS AFTERNOON. THE FRONT WILL ENCOUNTER UNSTABLE AIR ALREADY IN PLACE...RESULTING IN THE CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS LATER THIS AFTERNOON. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED AFTER 3 PM THIS AFTERNOON...ESPECIALLY ALONG THE I-29 CORRIDOR AND AREAS EAST. SDZ003>005-009-010-015>017-033>037-045-048-051-131039- BUFFALO-CAMPBELL-CORSON-DEWEY-EDMUNDS-FAULK-HAND-HUGHES-HYDE-JONES- LYMAN-MCPHERSON-POTTER-STANLEY-SULLY-WALWORTH- 542 AM CDT MON JUL 12 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PARTS OF CENTRAL...NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA...AS WELL AS BIG STONE AND TRAVERSE COUNTIES IN MINNESOTA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED TODAY OR TONIGHT.
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD 349 AM CDT MON JUL 12 2004 SDZ004>006-120948- BROWN-CAMPBELL-MCPHERSON- ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH CANCELLED... SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH #609 THAT WAS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 AM CDT HAS BEEN CANCELLED. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE STILL POSSIBLE ACROSS BROWN...CAMPBELL AND MCPHERSON COUNTIES THIS MORNING...BUT THEY ARE NOT EXPECTED TO BECOME SEVERE. HINTZ
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
823 AM CDT MON JUL 12 2004
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0811 AM HAIL 1 N ONAKA 45.21N 99.46W
07/12/2004 1.00 INCH FAULK SD CO-OP OBSERVER
0815 AM HAIL ONAKA 45.19N 99.46W
07/12/2004 2.50 INCH FAULK SD CO-OP OBSERVER
&&
TKThe Aberdeen radar (KABR), 72 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 14:29 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck a home in Britton starting a fire in the attic causing significant damage to the home.
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, 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: 5416259.