Delaware, 2001

Flood in Delaware, March 5 to 8, 2001

March 5 to 8, 2001 · NWS PHI · 1 event in 1 county or zone

An intensifying coastal low pressure system brought a protracted period of minor tidal flooding and beach erosion to coastal Delaware from the 5th through the 8th. The first high tide that brought minor tidal flooding was during the morning of the 5th.

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

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The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
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.

An intensifying coastal low pressure system brought a protracted period of minor tidal flooding and beach erosion to coastal Delaware from the 5th through the 8th. The first high tide that brought minor tidal flooding was during the morning of the 5th. Winds shifted into the northwest the afternoon of the 5th and this brought few tidal problems (although minor erosion continued) during the second half of the 5th and on the 6th. But on the 6th, the low pressure system was caught by its upper low at higher levels of the atmosphere and started to move back (retrograde) toward the coast. The low began moving farther offshore for good on the 7th. But the combination of the onshore flow and the high astronomical tides because of the full moon produced minor tidal flooding the mornings of the 7th and the 8th. The highest tide for this event occurred during the morning of the 7th. At Lewes, the high tide reached 6.9 feet above mean lower low water.

What forecasters said that day

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 Philadelphia/Mount Holly wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 4, 10:15 PM EST, 5 hours 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 4, 10:15 PM EST, 5 hours 45 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
1015 PM EST SUN MAR 4 2001

CHANGES ON THIS PACKAGE DRIVEN BY LATEST OBSERVATIONS AND REVIEW OF
18Z MESOETA/AVN AND QUICK LOOK AT 00Z ETA.  TREND ON 18Z MODELS AND
00Z ETA HAS BEEN TO TRACK SURFACE LOW A LITTLE FURTHER TO THE SE. IN
ADDITION...COLD AIR DAMMING HAS HELD IN BETTER OVER OUR FORECAST
AREA THAN PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT.  ACTUALLY...12Z ETA SURFACE DEWPOINTS
WOUND UP NOT BEING A BAD PREDICTOR FOR SURFACE TEMPS IN
PRECIPITATION AREA INTO THIS EVENING.

ON THIS PACKAGE...HAVE UPDATED WATCH TO WARNING TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT
OVERNIGHT WINTRY PRECIPITATION...AS WELL AS MON AFTERNOON TRANSITION
TO SNOW. HAVE KNOCKED DOWN TEMPS OVER MOST OF AREA FOR
OVERNIGHT...AND KEPT SNOW...SLEET...FREEZING RAIN MIXTURE GOING OVER
MOST OF DELAWARE VALLEY.

HAVE BOOSTED SNOW STORM TOTALS A LITTLE...BASED ON LASTEST
OBSERVATIONS UP NORTH AND EXPECTED BACKLASH/PRECIPITATION TRANSITION
ON MON AFTERNOON AND MON NIGHT.

OF COURSE...THERE ARE PLENTY OF PROVERBIAL FLYS IN THE OINTMENT. NEW
00Z ETA IS EVEN DRYER THAN PREVIOUS RUN FOR OUR AREA.  HOWEVER...
HAVE DIFFICULTY BELIEVING THAT WE WILL MISS OUT ON WINTER WEATHER
AROUND PHILADELPHIA WHEN NOT ONE...BUT TWO...STRONG H5 LOWS PASS
SOUTH OF THE AREA.  TIME WILL TELL THE TALE.

COASTAL FLOOD WARNING AND GALE WARNING CONTINUE AS PREVIOUSLY
ISSUED.

.PHI...WINTER STORM WARNING SE PA...NJ...NORTHERN DE...
       AND EXTREME NE MD.
       COASTAL FLOOD WARNING ALONG NJ/DE COAST.
       GALE WARNING NJ/DE COAST AND DE BAY.

SZATKOWSKI

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Delaware Beaches / X E Sussex

When
March 5, 4:00 AM EST to March 8, 10:00 AM EST
Where
Delaware Beaches / X E Sussex forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
38.683, -75.339 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Flood
Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Delaware in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Delaware, March 2001

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: 5235154.