1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 Houston/Galveston, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 7, 9:25 AM CST, 3 hours 33 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX 1025 AM CDT WED JUL 7 2004 .DISCUSSION... A WEAK SURFACE RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE WAS OVER SE TX THIS MORNING. OUTFLOW BOUNDARIES FROM THE STORMS OVER OK AND N TX WERE MOVING INTO THE AREA. THE FORECAST PROBLEM OF THE DAY LOOKS TO BE RAIN AND SEVERE STORM CHANCES. THE MODELS WERE OFFERING DIFFERENT SOLUTIONS TO THE POPS TODAY. THE RUC AND ETA HAD BETTER RAIN CHANCES. ALTHOUGH THE RUC HAD TOO MUCH COVERAGE THIS MORNING...THE MODEL DID HAVE THE AREA CORRECT. THE GFS ALSO PICKED UP ON THE 700 MB MOISTURE PATTERN BETTER THAN THE OTHER TWO. WILL LEAN TOWARD THE RUC AND ETA SOLUTIONS. THE 12Z SOUNDINGS INDICATED SOME VERY ISOLATED SEVERE STORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE. THE LI/S RANGED FROM -8 TO -11 AND CAPE VALUES WERE ABOUT 5000. SOME ISOLATED HEAVY RAINFALL COULD ALSO OCCUR GIVEN THE K-INDEX OF 36 AT LCH AND THE FACT THAT THE 700 MB DEWPOINTS WERE FROM 2 TO 4 CELSIUS AT THE COAST. EVEN THOUGH THE SCATTERED STORMS AT 15Z WERE MOVING INLAND AT 15 KNOTS...THEY WERE PRODUCING 1/4 TO 1/2 INCH RAINFALL. ALSO...THE SEA BREEZE AND A BAY BREEZE MAY GET INVOLVED LATER. ALL OF THESE SHOULD INTERACT WITH THE OUTFLOW BOUNDARY MOVING IN FROM THE NORTH. WILL ADJUST POPS UPWARD A BIT...ESPECIALLY IN THE SOUTHERN HALF OF THE FORECAST AREA. WILL MENTION THE LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL POSSIBILITIES IN THOSE COUNTIES...ALSO. THINK THAT THE SEVERE CHANCES ARE LOW ENOUGH TO NOT MENTIONING IN THE FORECAST FOR NOW. MAY NEED TO UPDATE FOR THIS LATER THIS AFTERNOON OR FOR THE EVENING. PL-40 43/99 && .HGX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && .PREV PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... COLLEGE STATION (CLL) 95 75 95 75 92/20 10 20 20 40 HOUSTON (IAH) 94 76 94 76 91/30 20 30 20 40 GALVESTON (GLS) 90 80 90 80 88/20 20 20 20 40 &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX 1033 AM CDT WED JUL 7 2004 TXZ163-164-176>179-195>200-210>214-226-227-235>238-072300- AUSTIN-BRAZORIA-BRAZOS-BURLESON-CHAMBERS-COLORADO-FORT BEND-GALVESTON- GRIMES-HARRIS-HOUSTON-JACKSON-LIBERTY-MADISON-MATAGORDA-MONTGOMERY- POLK-SAN JACINTO-TRINITY-WALKER-WALLER-WASHINGTON-WHARTON- 1033 AM CDT WED JUL 7 2004 .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. A WEAK UPPER LEVEL TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE AND A MODERATELY UNSTABLE ATMOSPHERE WILL PRODUCE A GOOD CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. STORM MOTION WILL BE LESS THAN 10 MPH AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL WILL BE POSSIBLE GENERALLY ALONG AND SOUTHEAST OF A LIVINGSTON TO CONROE TO BAY CITY LINE. RAINFALL WILL AVERAGE AROUND A HALF INCH WITH ISOLATED AREAS RECEIVING UP TO 3 INCHES. THERE IS ALSO A THREAT FOR PULSE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON. THE PRIMARY SEVERE WEATHER HAZARD WILL BE DOWNBURST WINDS AND LARGE HAIL. THE BEST CHANCE FOR SEVERE WEATHER WILL OCCUR BETWEEN 2 PM AND 6 PM. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY. ON FRIDAY...AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE WILL APPROACH SOUTHEAST TEXAS FROM THE GULF OF MEXICO. MOISTURE LEVELS WILL INCREASE. AS A RESULT... THERE WILL BE A HIGHER CHANCE FOR SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP. OTHERWISE...NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED LATER THIS AFTERNOON.
The Houston radar (KHGX), 55 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:56 UTC.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
Tornado touchdown in wooded area between FM 1409 and FM 146 in the Westlake area.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Texas, 2004Warnings in Texas, 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: 5413396.