Strong Wind, Delaware
- When
- May 16, 8:00 PM EST
- Where
- Delaware forecast zone
- Injuries
- 1 direct, 0 indirect
- Coordinates
- 39.917, -75.399 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Strong Wind in Pennsylvania, May 16, 1997
m. EDT when a maple tree branch fell on her while she was riding a bike on Highland Avenue.
Where it happened
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.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 1
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
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.
What happened
The episode as NWS PHI wrote it up.
A 10-year-old Wallingford girl was critically injured at about 5 p.m. EDT when a maple tree branch fell on her while she was riding a bike on Highland Avenue. The peak wind gust between 4 and 5 p.m EDT at Philadelphia International Airport was 32 mph. The peak gust for the day was 43 mph. Strong gusty northwest winds were blowing all day around an intensifying low pressure in the Gulf of Maine.
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 strong wind. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Strong Wind
- Non-thunderstorm winds below high wind criteria that nonetheless caused damage or casualties.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Strong Wind in New York, May 16, 1997
- Cold in Michigan, May 16, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Kansas, May 16, 1997
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Missouri, May 16, 1997
- Flash Flood in Texas, May 16, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Virginia, May 16, 1997
- Hail in Kansas, May 16, 1997
- Hail in Kansas, May 16, 1997
- Hail in Kansas, May 16, 1997
- Hail in Kansas, May 16, 1997
- Hail in Colorado, May 16, 1997
- Hail in Nebraska, May 16, 1997
More
Every storm in Pennsylvania in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyWarnings in Pennsylvania, May 1997
Sources
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: 5609050.