Heat in Delaware, July 15 to 19, 2002

Name: Heat in Delaware, July 15 to 19, 2002
Start: 2002-07-15T09:00
End: 2002-07-19T18:00
Location: Delaware

July 15 to 19, 2002 · NWS PHI · 4 events in 4 counties and zones

Another work week of hot weather affected Delaware from the 15th through the 19th. High temperatures reached into the 90s in most areas each day.

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.

Another work week of hot weather affected Delaware from the 15th through the 19th. High temperatures reached into the 90s in most areas each day. The highest temperatures mainly occurred on the 17th. Humidity levels were high for most of the week, except for the 16th when a weak back door cold front moved through the region. A second stronger front moved through the state during the first half of the 20th and ended the string of 90 degree high temperatures. Highest temperatures included 96 degrees in Salisbury (Wicomico County in Maryland), Georgetown (Sussex County) and Milford (Kent County), 95 degrees in Greenwood (Sussex County) and 92 degrees in Wilmington and at the New Castle County Airport.

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 Jul 15, 2:45 AM EST, 6 hours 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 15, 2:45 AM EST, 6 hours 15 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
345 AM EDT MON JUL 15 2002

TD ONE EXPECTED TO BECOME TS ARTHUR TODAY...BUT IT IS SCOOTING AWAY
FROM MID ATLANTIC COAST AS MID LVL TROF PICKS IT UP...SO IT IS NOT A
CONSIDERATION FOR US. SOME LOW LVL MOISTURE AROUND FA FORMING SOME
PATCHY FOG EARLY THIS AM...AND SOME LOW CLOUDS TO BOOT DOWN S WITH A
BIT MORE LEFTOVER MOISTURE THERE. ACCOUNTED FOR THIS IN FIRST PART
OF TODAY/S FCST.

THEN FOR LATER TODAY WE HAVE A COLD FRONT...OR THE WEAK SRN END OF A
COLD FRONT... MOVING TO FA. UPR SUPPORT HERE IS VERY WEAK. THE UPPER
JET IS POSITIONED FAVORABLY FOR NEW ENGLAND...BUT NO FOR US. NO
APPRECIABLE DIFLUENCE ALOFT...AND NOT MUCH LOW LVL CONVERGENCE. IN
FACT...LOW LVL FLOW IS DOWNSLOPING. FINALLY...A NOTICABLE CAP ON THE
SOUNDINGS. WE WILL THEREFORE MAINTAIN SILENT 20 POPS UP N AND EVEN
LESS ELSEWHERE. A LTL BIT OF DRYING BEHIND THE FRONT...AND AVN WOULD
EVEN BRING IN JUST A LTL COOLING TO THE N...SO WON/T BRING BACK THE
PATCHY FOG FOR THE END OF THE SECOND PD.

TMRW A VERY WEAK MID LVL IMPULSE AND ASSOCD SFC TROF LOOKS LIKE IT
MOVES THROUGH DURING THE DAY. WE REMAIN FAIRLY DRY ON A MAINLY NW
FLOW AT THE LOWER LEVELS...AND MILD WITH LTL OR NO DIFLUENCE
ALOFT...SO AGAIN MAINTAINING THE PREV FCST WHICH CARRIED NO POPS.
PERHAPS A LTL MORE IN THE WAY OF DRYING AFTER THIS FEATURE...SO MAYBE
WED WILL AT LEAST START OFF AS NOT TOO HUMID.

GUIDANCE...LOCAL SCHEMES AND CONTINUIITY GENERALLY AGREE TODAY ON
MAX TEMPS. DOWNSLOPE FLOW IN ADVANCE OF A WEAK COLD FRONT SHOULD
ALLOW FOR WARMING TO AROUND 90 MUCH OF FA. WE ARE ALLOWING FOR A SEA
BREEZE TO DEVELOP ALONG THE COAST...BUT WITH FLOW FROM THE NW AM NOT
BRINGING IT VERY FAR INLAND. TONIGHT A DEGREE OR TWO COOLER THAN
THIS EARLY AM PER WEAK COOLING AND DRYING. FOR TMRW BOUGHT THE
MODESTLY COOLER AIR UP N FOR AFTN MAXES...AND THOUGHT SRN ZONES
SHOULD BE ABOUT SAME AS TDY AS ANY COOLING THERE SHOULD BE
EPHEMERAL. TMRW NITE...IT MAY BE A STRETCH BUT AM GOING A BIT COOLER
THAN TONIGHT. AM THINKING THE POST TROUGH DRYING SHOULD DEPRESS THE
DWPTS A WEE BIT MORE. PLAYING IT THAT THE INCREASE IN LOW LVL
MOISTURE WILL WAIT UNTIL WED.

NOT ANTICIPATING ANY SWELLS FROM THE TROPICAL SYSTEM...SO NOTHING UP
ON THE MARINE.

FCSTID = 45

MPO   82  59  80  57 /  20  10   0   0
ABE   88  63  87  61 /  20  10   0   0
RDG   89  67  89  65 /  10  10   0   0
PHL   90  69  90  67 /  10   0   0   0
12N   87  60  85  58 /  20  10   0   0
SMQ   89  63  89  61 /  10  10   0   0
TTN   89  67  89  65 /  10  10   0   0
MIV   88  66  90  62 /   0   0   0   0
ACY   84  70  84  70 /   0   0   0   0
ILG   90  69  90  67 /  10   0   0   0
DOV   88  69  90  66 /   0   0   0   0
GED   88  70  90  66 /   0   0   0   0
ESN   88  69  90  66 /   0   0   0   0

.PHI...
DE...NONE.
MD...NONE.
NJ...NONE.
PA...NONE.
MARINE...NONE.

NYY

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 heat. Local standard time, as filed.

Heat, Delaware Beaches / X E Sussex

When: July 15, 9:00 AM EST to July 19, 6:00 PM 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)

Heat, Inland Sussex

When: July 15, 9:00 AM EST to July 19, 6:00 PM 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)

Heat, Kent

When: July 15, 9:00 AM EST to July 19, 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)

Heat, New Castle

When: July 15, 9:00 AM EST to July 19, 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

Heat: Heat below excessive heat criteria that still caused deaths, injuries or significant impacts.

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, July 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: 5308566, 5308567, 5308568, 5308569.