Maryland, 2001

Drought in Maryland, November 6 to 30, 2001

November 6 to 30, 2001 · NWS PHI · 1 event in 1 county or zone

November 2001 was an unseasonably dry month for the state of Maryland, especially on the Eastern Shore. Throughout the state rainfall was less than 30 percent of normal, but was only about 12 percent of normal in Talbot and Caroline Counties.

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.

November 2001 was an unseasonably dry month for the state of Maryland, especially on the Eastern Shore. Throughout the state rainfall was less than 30 percent of normal, but was only about 12 percent of normal in Talbot and Caroline Counties. On a county weighted average monthly precipitation totals ranged from 0.4 of an inch in Talbot and Caroline Counties to 1.3 inches in Kent and Cecil County. Normal monthly precipitation is about 3.4 inches. The run of unseasonably dry weather and below normal stream flow prompted Governor Parris N. Glendening to issue a drought watch for central (including Cecil County) and western Maryland on November 9th. The Governor asked residents to voluntarily cut back on water usage. The Governor also issued a statewide ban on open fires in woodlands or within 200 feet of woodlands and prohibited wood fueled campfires within all state forests and parks. The ban was geared at open air burning of leaves, trash and brush. The dry weather had fueled over 80 brush fires recently in the state.

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 Nov 6, 3:00 AM EST, 6 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Nov 6, 3:00 AM EST, 6 hours before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
300 AM EST TUE NOV 6 2001

VERY DRY PAT WILL CONT FOR THE FORSEEABLE FUTURE. CLSD LOW SE OF
CAPE COD LIFTS NEWD RETURNING A ZONAL FLOW TO THE ERN U.S BY WED. A
WEAK BACKDOOR CDFNT TRIES TO MOVE SWD BY THU MRNG B4 LIFTING NEWD.

AS PER LATEST PMDHMD WE WILL GO WITH SLOR AVN SOLN OF LIFTING THE
CLSD LO NEWD. IN TERMS OF SENSIBLE WX...IT SHOULD NOT MAKE A DIF.
THIN SC DECK SLOWLY ERODING. STILL HAS A FLASH POINT FROM LK ONT.
SO WE WILL BE MNTNG SOME AM CLDS IN NW ZNS. SHLD BE GONE BY LATE
THIS MRNG AS THE INV SINKS BLO H9...SHRT WV MOVES EWD AND CAA
CEASES. MRNG AIR MASS WILL BE ON THE CHILLY SIDE. BASED ON CUR MAXT
MACROS BLV GUID MAX TEMPS A BIT TOO WARM.

GIVEN SLGTLY SLOR AVN SOLN WOULD CONT ARGUEMENT FOR WINDS NOT TO
COMPLETELY DECOUPLE TNGT. BNDRY LYR WINDS FCSTD BTWN 15-20KTS IN
NEBULOUS RNG FOR DECOUPLING. BUT DEWPTS ARE NOT TERRIBLY LOW. WE
WILL GO BLO GUID IN VLY ZNS WHERE SOME DECOUPLING SHLD OCR LATE.  WE
WILL GO CLSR TO GUID ELSW. SKIES S/B CLR.

BACKDOOR FNT WORKS ITS WAY INTO THE CWA ON WED. THE MDLS...ESP THE
ETA SUG SOME MSTR MAY BECOME TRAPPED BLO NEXT DVLPG INVERSION. CUR
PLANS ARE TO FCST PTLY SUNNY SKIES FOR NRN ZNS AND GO WITH A SLGTLY
MORE OPTIM MO SUNNY FOR SRN ZNS. ETA/AVN FCSTG A COUPLE OF
HUNDREDTHS NR THIS FNTL BNDRY...BUT ALL THE FCSTD MSTR FOR WED & WED
NGT IS AOB H8...SO DON/T SEE ANY MSRBL OCRG. ETA MAXT MACRO LEANS
TWD WRMR NGM MOS AND WILL FOLLOW.

WAA INDCD CLDS SHLD MAINLY STAY N OF THE CWA WED NGT AND NEXT CFP IS
STILL SLATED FOR THU NGT. THERE APRS TO BE ENUF MSTR TO CONT THE
PCPN CHCS FOR THU NGT...BUT JUST LIKE ITS PREDECESSORS THE OVRNGT
TIMING AND CDFNT MOVG INTO A DRY AIR MASS SHLD MAKE THIS ANOTHER
TENTH HERE/TENTH THERE EVENT. H5 RDG FCSTD TO RMN IN MIDDLE OF
COUNTRY WITH NEXT SHRTWV/CDFNT DIVING SEWD IN NW FLOW ON SAT. THIS
MIGHT WARRANT A CHC OF ANOTHER LOW QPF EVENT FOR SAT IF THE TROF
SHRPNS ANY FTHR. ATTM FAN/FMR GUID IS STILL DRY AND WILL CONT DRY
CFP FCST.

MARINE: SCA WILL BE CONT AS GRAD RMNS TIGHT AND COLD AIR CONTS TO
POUR OVER THE WRMR WATER.

.PHI...
DE...NONE.
MD...NONE.
NJ...NONE.
PA...NONE.
MARINE...SCA FOR DE BAY AND CSTL WATERS FROM SANDY HOOK NJ TO
         FENWICK IS DE.

TFG

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 drought. Local standard time, as filed.

Drought, Cecil

When
November 6, 9:00 AM EST to November 30, 11:59 PM EST
Where
Cecil forecast zone
Reported by
GOVT OFFICIAL
Coordinates
39.562, -75.948 (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 Maryland in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Maryland, November 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: 5272959.