Heat in Delaware, March 8 to 10, 2000

A large ridge of high pressure at both the surface and aloft covered the eastern half of the United States as the work week began on March 6th. This ridge remained nearly stationary across the Southeastern United States from the 7th through the 9th. A mild southwest flow that began the afternoon of the 6th became progressively warmer as the work week continued. This climaxed in Delaware on Wednesday the 8th as one of the warmest days so early in the calendar year. High temperatures were as warm as the lower 80s, breaking the daily high temperature records. Some high level cloudiness on the 9th prevented temperatures from reaching the 80s again, but many locations again set new record highs for the date. A series of cold frontal passages on the 10th and a subsequent onshore flow on the weekend (11th and 12th) brought temperatures down to seasonal levels. The highest readings (all on the 8th) included 82 degrees in Milford (Kent County) and Georgetown (Sussex County), 81 degrees at both the New Castle County Airport and Greenwood (Sussex County) and 79 degrees in Wilmington (New Castle County). New daily high temperature records were set on both the 8th (81 degrees) and the 9th (74 degrees) at the New Castle County Airport. The high of 81 degrees on the 8th was the earliest in the calendar year that the temperature reached 80 degrees. The previous earliest was March 12th in 1990.