Delaware, 1998

Heat in Delaware, March 27 to 31, 1998

March 27 to 31, 1998 · NWS PHI · 4 events in 4 counties and zones

An unseasonably warm air mass for late March brought record breaking high temperatures across the Delmarva Peninsula from March 27th through March 31st. The warmest day was the 29th for coastal areas and the 30th for inland locations.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 4 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

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The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
4

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.

An unseasonably warm air mass for late March brought record breaking high temperatures across the Delmarva Peninsula from March 27th through March 31st. The warmest day was the 29th for coastal areas and the 30th for inland locations. Several locations across the Middle Atlantic States established new March monthly high temperature records. Across the state, the highest temperatures included 88 degrees in Georgetown and 86 degrees at the New Castle County Airport. The 86 degree mark on the 30th at the New Castle County Airport not only established a new record high for the day, but also tied the all-time monthly high temperature record originally set on March 21, 1948. New record high temperatures were set at the airport on the 27th, 30th and 31st. Cloudiness and a cold frontal passage on April 1st slowly brought temperatures back to seasonal levels in early April.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 heat. Local standard time, as filed.

Heat, Delaware Beaches / X E Sussex

When
March 27, 10:00 AM EST to March 31, 6:00 PM EST
Where
Delaware Beaches / X E Sussex forecast zone
Coordinates
38.683, -75.339 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Inland Sussex

When
March 27, 10:00 AM EST to March 31, 6:00 PM EST
Where
Inland Sussex forecast zone
Coordinates
38.683, -75.339 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Kent

When
March 27, 10:00 AM EST to March 31, 6:00 PM EST
Where
Kent forecast zone
Coordinates
39.096, -75.505 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, New Castle

When
March 27, 10:00 AM EST to March 31, 6:00 PM EST
Where
New Castle forecast zone
Coordinates
39.578, -75.639 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Heat
Heat below excessive heat criteria that still caused deaths, injuries or significant impacts.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Delaware in 1998Every state in 1998This day in weather historyWarnings in Delaware, March 1998

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: 5636836, 5636837, 5636838, 5636839.