Strong southwest winds developed across Northeast Wyoming during the overnight hours. Sustained winds of 30 to 45 mph, with gusts to around 60 mph, were observed across much of the area.
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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 UNR wrote it up.
Strong southwest winds developed across Northeast Wyoming during the overnight hours. Sustained winds of 30 to 45 mph, with gusts to around 60 mph, were observed across much of the area.
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 Rapid City, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 1, 3:00 PM MST, 6 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR WESTERN SD AND NORTHEASTERN WY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD 300 PM MST THU JAN 1 2004 .DISCUSSION...WATER VAPOR IMAGERY SHOWS POTENT UPR LOW MOVING ONSHORE THE PAC NW...WITH WAA MID/HI CLDS ALREADY SPREADING EWD INTO THE NRN PLAINS. SFC PRES FALLS ASSOCD WITH UPR MOVG EWD INTO THE NRN HIGH PLAINS ATTM. FORECAST CONCERNS OVER NEXT 24 HOURS WILL BE THE WINDS AS STRONG SFC LOW MOVS THRU THE NRN PLAINS...THEN THE ARCTIC AIR THAT WILL POUR INTO THE REGION OVER THE WEEKEND AND INTO NEXT WEEK. TONIGHT...SW WINDS WILL INCREASE OVR THE CWFA AS STRONG SFC LOW MOVS INTO THE NRN HIGH PLAINS. WINDS IN THE LOWER TROPOSPHERE APPROACH 50KTS WHICH COULD CREATE VERY WINDY CONDS ESPECIALLY OVR HIGHER TERRAIN OF NERN WY AND THE BLKHLS. THE ATMOS WILL REMAIN FAIRLY MIXED KEEPING TEMPS FROM DROPPING TOO FAR. FRIDAY...COLD AIR BEGINS TO SPILL SOUTH INTO THE REGION AS SFC LOW RAPIDLY MOVES INTO THE UPR MIDWEST. TEMPS WILL BE TRICKY AND WIDE RANGING...WITH FALLING AFTN TEMPS EXPECTED ACRS THE NRN HALF OF CWFA. MOISTURE WILL BE LIMITED...SO DO NOT EXPECT MORE THAN A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SNOW ACRS THE NORTH. SAT...BAROCLINIC ZONE SETS UP FAR ENOUGH SOUTH/WEST OF CWFA TO LEAVE ALL BUT POSSIBLY THE FAR SRN TIER OF CWFA PCPN FREE. SUN...NEXT POLAR VORTEX ROTATES SEWD INTO THE NRN PLAINS DRIVING ANOTHER SFC LOW INTO THE PLAINS. EVEN COLDER AIR WILL SPILL INTO THE REGION BEHIND SFC LOW...WITH A BETTER CHANCE OF SNOW FOR THE CWFA AS FRONTOGENESIS WILL BE QUITE STRONG. MOISTURE AGAIN WILL BE LIMITED...BUT THIS TYPE OF PATTERN WILL TYPICALLY DROP AN INCH OR TWO OF SNOW FROM NERN WY EWD INTO FAR WRN SD. 850MB TEMPS WILL APPROACH -30C NEAR THE ND/SD BORDERS...RESULTING IN TEMPS STRUGGLING TO RISE ABOVE ZERO ACRS THE FAR NRN CWFA. EXTENDED...ARCTIC AIR WILL REMAIN ENTRENCHED OVR THE REGION AS LONG WAVE TROF SLOWLY MIGRATES EWD THRU THE PLAINS. TEMPS ON MONDAY WILL STRUGGLE TO HIT 10 DEGREES IN MOST AREAS. BY TUESDAY MORNING...LONG WAVE TROUGH MIGRATES INTO EASTERN CANADA...AND THE AREA COMES UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF NORTHWEST FLOW. A BAROCLINIC ZONE SETS UP OVER THE AREA TUESDAY...WITH AN ASSOCIATED SURFACE LOW MOVING THROUGH SOUTHERN WYOMING AND WESTERN NEBRASKA. THIS WILL GIVE THE AREA A GOOD CHANCE OF SNOW DURING THE DAY ON TUESDAY. THIS SURFACE LOW MOVES TO THE EAST BY TUESDAY NIGHT...AND ALLOWS AN EXTENSION OF THE ARCTIC HIGH TO DROP SOUTH THROUGH WESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA. TEMPS COULD DROP WELL BELOW ZERO AGAIN BY WEDNESDAY MORNING. THE WESTERN UPPER RIDGE WILL BEGIN TO MOVE INTO THE AREA WED NIGHT...MODERATING TEMPERATURES A BIT FOR THURSDAY. && .UNR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... .SD...NONE. .WY...NONE. JOHNSON/RUDGE
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD 624 AM MST THU JAN 1 2004 SDZ001-002-012>014-024>032-041>044-046-047-049-072>074-WYZ054>058- 071-021400- BENNETT-BUTTE-CENTRAL BLACK HILLS-CUSTER CO PLAINS-FALL RIVER-HAAKON- HARDING-HERMOSA FOOT HILLS-JACKSON-MELLETTE-NORTHEASTERN CROOK- NORTHERN BLACK HILLS-NORTHERN CAMPBELL-NORTHERN FOOT HILLS- NORTHERN MEADE CO PLAINS-PENNINGTON CO PLAINS-PERKINS-RAPID CITY- SHANNON-SOUTHERN BLACK HILLS-SOUTHERN CAMPBELL-SOUTHERN FOOT HILLS- SOUTHERN MEADE CO PLAINS-STURGIS/PIEDMONT FOOT HILLS-TODD-TRIPP- WESTERN CROOK-WESTON-WYOMING BLACK HILLS-ZIEBACH- 624 AM MST (724 AM CST) THU JAN 1 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA AND NORTHEASTERN WYOMING. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY A SERIES OF COLD FRONTS WILL USHER IN SOME BITTERLY COLD AIR. THE STRONGEST PUSH OF ARCTIC AIR WILL OCCUR ON SUNDAY...BRINGING SOME LIGHT SNOW TO THE AREA. WIND CHILL VALUES OF 20 TO 40 BELOW ZERO ARE POSSIBLE SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Wyoming in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyWarnings in Wyoming, January 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: 5382547, 5382548.