February 2002 marked the eighth consecutive month of below normal precipitation for most of Delaware. The July 2001 through February 2002 period was the driest July through February on record.
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.
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.
The episode as NWS PHI wrote it up.
February 2002 marked the eighth consecutive month of below normal precipitation for most of Delaware. The July 2001 through February 2002 period was the driest July through February on record. For example, at the New Castle County Airport, only 14.39 inches of precipitation fell. For most of the state it was also the driest February on record and increased precipitation deficits throughout the area. On a county weighted average, monthly precipitation totals ranged from 0.5 inches in New Castle County to 0.8 inches in Sussex County. Normal is around 3.0 inches. The February precipitation total at the New Castle County Airport was only 0.43 inches, the driest February on record. In Georgetown (Sussex County), the February precipitation total was 0.89 inches, 2.23 inches below normal. The winter as a whole was also unseasonably dry. The meteorological winter precipitation total of 5.10 inches at the New Castle County Airport was the 5th driest winter on record. The meteorological winter precipitation total of 5.41 inches at Georgetown (Sussex County) was 4.84 inches below normal. The lack of precipitation in the Delaware River Basin forced the Delaware River Basin Commission to continue its drought emergency declaration from December 18, 2001. All groundwater wells in the state were below normal. All streams used for drinking water in northern Delaware were at record low levels for the calendar day on February 26th and were only flowing at about one quarter of their mean daily flow. Sixteen of twenty measured wells in Chester County Pennsylvania at the headwaters for the northern Delaware water supplies were at drought emergency levels. United Water of Delaware requested water releases from the Hoopes Reservoir water reserve to dilute the salinity of the stream water near their intake valves. All of this prompted the Delaware State Drought Advisory Committee to call for a drought warning declaration by the governor on February 26th and also supported a statewide burning ban. The current drought posed no problems for farmers unless it persisted during March and the first half of April. The dry fields would actually prevent delayed planting of peas and corns. The lack of precipitation is also expected to keep the mosquito population under control.
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 Jan 31, 10:30 PM EST, 1 hour 30 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ 1030 PM EST THU JAN 31 2002 WE WILL BE REISSUING A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR MONROE AND SUSSEX COUNTY HAS FREEZING DRIZZLE AND DENSE FOG ON THE RIDGES. SUSSEX CTY MESONET HAS 5 OF 8 LOCATIONS BLO FRZG. WRMFNT IS SLO TO MOVE NWD AND DON/T EXPECT THESE LOCNS TO GET ABV FREEZING TIL DAYBREAK. WILL FINE TUNE WINDS A BIT S ALSO. TFG PREV AFD............................................................ IFPS AND GFE APPEAR TO BE WORKING NORMALLY AGAIN...SO WE EXPECT WE/LL BE ABLE TO OUTPUT ALL OF OUR PRODUCTS BY ABOUT 400 PM. OTHERWISE WE/LL NOT CHG MUCH FM PREVIOUS FCST. FRZG RAIN IS SPOTTY AND LGT XTRM NRN PTN OF CWA AT THIS TIME SO WL LET WINT WX ADVY EXPIRE WITH THIS PACKAGE AFT COORD WITH BGM. OTHERWISE WRMFNT WL BE PUSHING INTO CWA FM THE S TNGT...AND WL KEEP LIKELY POPS FAR NRN ZONES AND CHC LGT RA OR DZ CNTRL ZONES...AND JUST A MENTION OF DZ S. WL SAY AREAS OF FOG AS WELL WITH HI DPTS AND WRMFNTL ACTION. THEN...AS VIGOROUS LOW MOVS NW OF THE CWA AND BRINGS THE ASSCD CDFNT THRU THE REGION FRI AFTN...WL KEEP LIKELY POPS N AND CNTRL AND HI CHC S...WITH A MENTION OF THUNDER IN VIEW OF RATHER GOOD INSTABY BY 18Z. WL USE A COMP OF AVN/ETA WITH TIMING OF FNT...THINKING FNT WL APCH WRN AREAS BY 18Z AND MOV THRU THE CWA BY LATE AFTN. WL CONT WITH MENTION OF STG WIND GUSTS FRI AFTN SPCLY NR RW/S OR ANY TSTMS BUT APPEARS TO REMAIN BLO ANY ADVY THRESHOLDS. TEMPS...NON-DIURNAL TREND TNGT MOST ZONES...PSBLY EVEN NRN ZONES LATE...AS WRMFNT PUSHES WELL INTO CWA. WL GO ABV MOS FOR FRI AS THE THINKING IS THAT SUN WL BRK THRU CLDS CNTRL AND SPCLY SRN ZONES AND BUMP TEMPS TO NEAR OR OVER RECORD LVLS. OTHERWISE MOS ACCEPTED. WL CONT THE SML CRFT ADVY ON THE CSTL WATERS FROM SANDY HOOK NJ TO FENWICK ISLAND DE AND FOR LWR DE BAY. FCSTID = 17 MPO 31 57 23 31 / 60 70 10 10 ABE 39 65 29 36 / 50 70 10 10 RDG 42 66 30 38 / 50 70 10 10 PHL 45 69 32 40 / 30 60 0 0 12N 33 60 26 34 / 60 70 10 10 SMQ 42 67 30 38 / 30 60 0 0 TTN 44 68 31 39 / 30 60 0 0 MIV 49 70 30 40 / 20 50 0 0 ACY 46 68 33 41 / 20 50 0 0 ILG 45 70 31 40 / 30 60 0 0 DOV 49 72 32 40 / 20 50 0 0 GED 52 73 33 41 / 20 50 0 0 ESN 51 72 33 41 / 20 50 0 0 .PHI... DE...NONE. MD...NONE. NJ...WINTER WEATHER ADVY INTO THE ERLY MRNG NJZ1 PA...WINTER WEATHER ADVY INTO THE ERLY MRNG PAZ55 MARINE...SCA CSTL WATERS AND LOWER DE BAY.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
4 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Delaware in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Delaware, February 2002
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: 5282733, 5282734, 5282735, 5282736.