The Rock River at Jefferson rose above its flood stage of 10 feet on May 24th at 1632 CST. 51 feet.
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 episode as NWS MKX wrote it up.
The Rock River at Jefferson rose above its flood stage of 10 feet on May 24th at 1632 CST. The Rock River at Jefferson crested on June 3rd at 11.51 feet. The Crawfish River at Milford rose above its flood stage of 7 feet on May 25th at 0400 CST. The river crested on June 2nd at 8.57 feet. Water damage to road systems, parks, treatment plants, and basements was noted along most rivers and streams. In addition, crop damage and erosion was moderate to severe in low lands. For more information, please refer to the June 2004 edition of StormData. Refer to the narrative of the May 25th flood event in Green Lake County for related details.
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 Milwaukee, WI wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 24, 2:32 PM CST, 2 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI 332 PM CDT MON MAY 24 2004 .DISCUSSION...FORECAST FOCUS ON MCS AND RAINS FOR TONIGHT. EARLIER FORECAST THOUGHTS FOR MCS AND HEAVY RAINFALL MAY BE REALIZED TONIGHT. THUNDERSTORM COMPLEXES CONTINUE TO EXPAND IN AREAL COVERAGE AS THEY MOVE EAST ACROSS SOUTHERN MN AND IOWA THIS AFTERNOON. LOOKS LIKE FOREGONE CONCLUSION THAT THEY WILL MOVE INTO CWA LATE TONIGHT. ETA AND GFS BOTH LOCK ONTO THIS SOLUTION AS WELL BUT DIFFER AS TO HOW QPF WILL BE GENERATED. GENERALLY SPLIT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MODELS AND IN GENERAL AGREEMENT WITH 1/2 - 1 INCH RAINFALL HPC QPF FORECAST FOR THIS EVENT...THE RUC SEEMS TO BE CONCENTRATING THE QPF TOO FAR SOUTH. SPC HAS EXPANDED SLIGHT RISK SEVERE FARTHER EAST INTO SOUTH CENTRAL WISCONSIN TONIGHT...UNDERSTANDABLE CONSIDERING STRONG TO SEVERE STORMS OCCURRING IN IOWA ATTM. ALTHOUGH THIS IS NOT A MAJOR RAINFALL...IT COMES ON THE HEELS OF A VERY WET PERIOD AND MANY SPOTS IN THE SOUTH CANNOT TOLERATE ANY MORE RAINFALL WITH AREA RIVERS AND STREAMS AT OR ABOVE FLOOD STAGE AND CONTINUING TO RISE. WITH THIS IN MIND HAVE POSTED YET ANOTHER FLOOD WATCH TONIGHT FOR THE SOUTHERN TIER OF COUNTIES BORDERING ILLINOIS. EARLY MORNING SHOWERS OR THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE WITH NEXT CHANCE OF RAIN ON THURSDAY. UNSETTLED PATTERN CONTINUES WITH CHANCE OF RAIN INTO THE WEEKEND. && .MKX...WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...FLOOD WATCH FOR FAR SOUTHERN WI COUNTIES WIZ067>072.
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI 903 AM CDT MON MAY 24 2004 WIZ046-047-051-052-056>060-062>072-250003- COLUMBIA-DANE-DODGE-FOND DU LAC-GREEN-GREEN LAKE-IOWA-JEFFERSON- KENOSHA-LAFAYETTE-MARQUETTE-MILWAUKEE-OZAUKEE-RACINE-ROCK-SAUK- SHEBOYGAN-WALWORTH-WASHINGTON-WAUKESHA- 903 AM CDT MON MAY 24 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHERN WISCONSIN. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THERE IS A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS LATE TONIGHT. IN ADDITION...SOME OF THE THUNDERSTORMS COULD PRODUCE MODERATE RAIN...ESPECIALLY IN THE COUNTIES BORDERING ILLINOIS. FLOODING WILL CONTINUE ON MANY AREA RIVERS. SMALL CRAFT ADVISORIES ARE IN EFFECT FOR BRISK NORTHWEST TO NORTH WINDS THIS MORNING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE TUESDAY THEN AGAIN FRIDAY AND FRIDAY NIGHT. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... STORM SPOTTER GROUPS WILL NOT BE NEEDED TONIGHT. TZ
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
431 PM CDT MON MAY 24 2004
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0658 PM TORNADO E DE FOREST 43.25N 89.35W
05/23/2004 F0 DANE WI PUBLIC
OCCURRED JUST EAST OF DE FOREST...EAST OF STH 51. MOVED
NORTHEAST THROUGH FARM FIELDS. NO DAMAGE. MAY HAVE LASTED
ABOUT 3-4 MINUTES. ADDITIONAL INVESTIGATING ONGOING.
PHOTOGRAPHED AND TAPED BY SEVERAL PEOPLE.
0725 PM TORNADO FALL RIVER 43.39N 89.05W
05/23/2004 COLUMBIA WI FIRE DEPT/RESCUE
FIRE FIGHTERS NOTED ROTATING DUST/DIRT/DEBRIS AT GROUND
LEVEL. NWS METEOROLOGISTS STILL TRYING TO DETERMINE EXACT
LOCATION AND OCCURRENCE TIME OF THIS WEAK TORNADO.
ADDITIONAL INVESTIGATION ONGOING. THIS TORNADO MAY HAVE
BEEN SPAWNED BY THE SAME STORM THAT SPUN UP A TORNADO
THAT OCCURRED JUST EAST OF DE FOREST.
&&
AFKThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Wisconsin in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyWarnings in Wisconsin, May 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: 5404113.