Winter Storm and Sleet in Delaware, January 19 to 20, 2002

Name: Winter Storm and Sleet in Delaware, January 19 to 20, 2002
Start: 2002-01-19T09:30
End: 2002-01-20T03:30
Location: Delaware

January 19 to 20, 2002 · NWS PHI · 4 events in 4 counties and zones

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

Open the live radar over this ground

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.

A weak low pressure system that moved through the Gulf Coast States and exited quickly off the North Carolina coast had sufficient moisture and came close enough to the peninsula to give the region a wintry mix of snow, sleet and rain for most of the 19th. Snow began falling during the morning of the 19th. As the low pressure system came closer and warmer air moved in, precipitation mixed with and then changed to rain across Kent and Sussex Counties. In New Castle County, the changeover took longer and in many locations, temperatures were cold enough for freezing rain to occur. As the low pulled offshore, precipitation changed back to snow in New Castle and Kent Counties during the evening and over to freezing rain after midnight in Sussex County. Accumulations ranged from 1 to 5 inches with the heaviest amounts in New Castle County. Bridges, overpasses, untreated roadways and shady areas became very treacherous, especially in the upper part of the state. Specific accumulations included 4.5 inches in New Castle (New Castle County), 4.3 inches in Newark (New Castle County), 4.0 inches in Wilmington (New Castle County), 2.5 inches in Smyrna (Kent County), 2.3 inches in Dover (Kent County), 2.2 inches in Greenwood (Sussex County) and 1.5 inches in Georgetown (Sussex County). The low pressure system responsible for the wintry mix developed in the Gulf Coast States during the evening of the 18th. By the morning of the 19th, it was located in northern Mississippi. At 11 a.m. EST the primary low moved into Tennessee as a secondary formed near Wilmington, North Carolina. At 5 p.m. EST it moved to just east of Elizabeth City, North Carolina and then accelerated to a position south of Cape Cod at midnight EST on the 20th.

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 Jan 19, 4:45 AM EST, 4 hours 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 19, 4:45 AM EST, 4 hours 45 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
445 AM EST SAT JAN 19 2002

CURRENT FORECAST CONTINUES WITH ONLY MINOR CHANGES.

00Z ETA/AVN/NOGAPS/CANADIAN CONTINUE TO SUPPORT SURFACE LOW
DEVELOPMENT AND STRONG WAA PATTERN OVER THE MID-ATLANTIC.  MODEL
TRENDS OVER THE PAST 24 HOURS HAVE SUPPRESSED THE SURFACE LOW TRACK
AND PRECIPITATION EVER SO SLIGHTLY SOUTHWARD. HOWEVER...EXAMINATION
OF CURRENT SURFACE OBSERVATIONS OF SNOWFALL BREAKING OUT TO THE WEST
SHOWS HEAVIER SNOW EXTENDING A LITTLE FURTHER NORTH THAN FORECAST BY
EITHER ETA/AVN.  06Z MESOETA SHOWS 2NDRY PRECIPITATION MAXIMA OVER
CENTRAL NJ/SOUTHEAST PA DURING THE HEIGHT OF THE SNOW EVENT.  00Z
AVN SHOWED 200 KT JET MAXIMA FOR 00Z THIS EVENING OVER THE NORTHEAST
U.S....WITH OUR FORECAST AREA WELL POSITIONED BENEATH THE ENTRANCE
REGION TO THE JET.  EXPECT GREATER THAN 10:1 SNOW/LIQUID RATIO IN
THE NORTHWEST PORTION OF THE FORECAST AREA TO ACHIEVE EXPECTED SNOW
AMOUNTS.  GIVEN LATEST MESOETA...STILL EXPECT PERIODS OF HEAVY SNOW
THIS AFTERNOON WITH A SEVERAL HOUR PERIOD OF TWO INCH ACCUMULATIONS
PER HOUR.

AFTER PRECIPITATION EXITS THE AREA TONIGHT...QUIET WEATHER MOVES IN
FOR SUN.  WENT BELOW FWC/MAV TEMPERATURE GUIDANCE FOR BOTH SUNDAY
MAXIMA AND SUN NIGHT MINIMA GIVEN EXPECTED SNOW COVER.

NEXT SYSTEM TO AFFECT THE AREA ON MONDAY HAS BEEN PERSISTENT IN THE
MODELS AND ALTHOUGH IT STILL LOOKS LIKE IT WILL MAINLY BE OFF THE
COAST...IT IS CLOSE ENOUGH AND PERSISTENT ENOUGH TO INTRODUCE CHANCE
POPS FOR MON SOUTH AND EAST OF PHL.

NEXT SYSTEM FOR MID-WEEK LOOKS WETTER AND WARMER.

AS FOR TODAY...THINK SNOW.

FCSTID = 15
MPO   26  22  32  18 /  90 100   0  10
ABE   28  24  34  21 / 100 100   0  10
RDG   28  24  34  21 / 100 100   0  10
PHL   32  25  37  27 / 100 100   0  10
12N   28  22  33  21 / 100 100   0  10
SMQ   31  26  36  26 / 100 100   0  10
TTN   31  26  36  26 / 100 100   0  10
MIV   33  27  38  26 / 100 100   0  10
ACY   35  29  37  31 / 100 100   0  10
ILG   32  26  37  26 / 100 100   0  10
DOV   33  27  38  26 / 100 100   0  10
GED   35  28  38  27 / 100 100   0  10
ESN   33  27  38  26 / 100 100   0  10

.PHI...
DE...WINTER STORM WARNING FOR SATURDAY FOR ZONE DEZ001.
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SATURDAY FOR ZONES DEZ002>004.

MD...WINTER STORM WARNING FOR SATURDAY FOR ZONES MDZ008...MDZ012...
MDZ015.
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SATURDAY FOR ZONES MDZ019>020.

NJ...WINTER STORM WARNING FOR SATURDAY FOR ZONES NJZ001...
NJZ007>010...NJZ012>020...NJZ026.
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SATURDAY FOR ZONES NJZ021>025.

PA...WINTER STORM WARNING FOR SATURDAY FOR ZONES PAZ054>055...
PAZ060>062...PAZ067>071.

.MARINE...HEADLINE FOR SCA MAY BE NEEDED FOR TONIGHT LOWER DE BAY
AND NJ/DE COAST

SZATKOWSKI

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 sleet, 1 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Sleet, Delaware Beaches

When: January 19, 9:30 AM EST to January 20, 1:30 AM EST
Where: Delaware Beaches forecast zone
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 38.683, -75.339 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Sleet, Inland Sussex

When: January 19, 9:30 AM EST to January 20, 1:30 AM EST
Where: Inland Sussex forecast zone
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 38.683, -75.339 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Sleet, Kent

When: January 19, 9:30 AM EST to January 20, 3:30 AM EST
Where: Kent forecast zone
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 39.096, -75.505 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, New Castle

When: January 19, 9:30 AM EST to January 20, 12:30 AM EST
Where: New Castle forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 39.578, -75.639 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Sleet: Sleet accumulating half an inch or more.
Winter Storm: A storm that brought snow, sleet or freezing rain at warning levels, usually over several hours or days.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Delaware in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Delaware, January 2002

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: 5277789, 5277790, 5277791, 5277792.