Delaware, 2001

Drought in Delaware, May 1 to 20, 2001

May 1 to 20, 2001 · NWS PHI · 4 events in 4 counties and zones

Unseasonably dry weather continued across southern Delaware through May 18th and northern Delaware through May 19th. Little, if any, precipitation fell across the state during the first 18 days of the month.

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.

Unseasonably dry weather continued across southern Delaware through May 18th and northern Delaware through May 19th. Little, if any, precipitation fell across the state during the first 18 days of the month. It continued a trend that had prevailed since the second half of April. The lack of precipitation forced farmers to delay planting soybeans. May crops (grains/grasses) were either stunted or grew at a slow pace. Rain associated with a warm front brought the heaviest rain since early April to southern Delaware on the 19th. A weak low pressure system that formed on the ensuing cold front spread rain across northern Delaware on the evening of the 20th and the early morning of the 21st. This ushered a change in the weather pattern. For the rest of the month, precipitation totals were wetter than normal.

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 Apr 30, 8:45 PM EST, 3 hours 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 30, 8:45 PM EST, 3 hours 15 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
945 PM EDT MON APR 30 2001

DISC: DRY WARM SPELL ON THE WAY. ILG-PHI-ACY-ABE HAVE NOT HAD A HALF
INCH OF RAIN ON ANY DAY THIS MONTH SO WE NEED THE RAIN. OTHERWISE
CURRENT FCST PCKG IS ON TRACK SO NO UPDATE NEEDED.

SEE YA AT 3AM

.PHI...NONE.

EBEWINE

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 drought. Local standard time, as filed.

Drought, Delaware Beaches

When
May 1, 12:00 AM EST to May 19, 12:00 AM EST
Where
Delaware Beaches forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
38.683, -75.339 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Inland Sussex

When
May 1, 12:00 AM EST to May 19, 12:00 AM EST
Where
Inland Sussex forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
38.683, -75.339 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Kent

When
May 1, 12:00 AM EST to May 20, 6:00 PM EST
Where
Kent forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
39.096, -75.505 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, New Castle

When
May 1, 12:00 AM EST to May 20, 6:00 PM EST
Where
New Castle forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
39.578, -75.639 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Drought
A drought reaching severe (D2) or worse on the US Drought Monitor, or with notable impacts.

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, May 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: 5244597, 5244598, 5244599, 5244600.