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 Seattle, WA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 17, 7:30 AM PST, 2 hours 30 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA
830 AM PDT TUE AUG 17 2004
.SYNOPSIS...A DISSIPATING WEATHER SYSTEM WILL MOVE INTO WESTERN
WASHINGTON TODAY...BRINGING A CHANCE OF SPRINKLES AND ISOLATED
THUNDERSTORMS. HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT WILL BUILD WEDNESDAY AND
THURSDAY. THE RIDGE WILL SLOWLY BREAK DOWN THROUGH THE WEEKEND.
INCREASING ONSHORE FLOW WILL RESULT IN MORE MORNING CLOUDS AND
LOWER HIGH TEMPERATURES BEGINNING FRIDAY.
&&
.DISCUSSION...SURPRISING AMOUNT OF CONVECTION THIS MORNING IN THE
SAN JUANS OF ALL PLACES. WEAK FRONT STRETCHED NEARLY TO THE BREAKING
POINT IN SATELLITE IMAGERY APPARENTLY HAS ENOUGH PUNCH TO TRIGGER
THUNDERSTORMS. MEANWHILE USUAL AMOUNT OF LOW CLOUDS SEEM UNAFFECTED
BY HIGHER CONVECTION...KSEA AND OTHER PLACES AROUND PUGET SOUND
SOCKED IN AND WILL REMAIN THAT WAY FOR A FEW HOURS.
MODELS AGREE ON BUILDING RIDGE WED-FRI FOR DRY WEATHER AND HIGHER
TEMPS. SOME QUESTION ABOUT A SYSTEM THIS WEEKEND THAT IS
CONSIDERABLY STRONGER IN LATEST GFS...WHILE EARLIER IDEA OF SYSTEM
NEXT MONDAY IS DISCARDED. PROBABLY WILL EVENTUALLY PUT SOME PCPN IN
WITH WEEKEND SYSTEM. BURKE
&&
.SEW...GALE WARNING CENTRAL STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA.
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY EASTERN STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA.
.KATX..VCP21/CSR21 OPERATIONAL.
&&The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
A lightning strike destroyed 3 trees and started a fire which burning a storage shed to the ground.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Washington in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyWarnings in Washington, 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: 5419747.