Name: Damaging Wind in Delaware, May 14, 2002
Start: 2002-05-14T19:10
End: 2002-05-14T19:10
Location: Delaware

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. 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: 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.

Damaging winds tore down one large tree and large limbs from several other trees in Clayton.

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 May 14, 2:16 PM EST, 4 hours 54 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 14, 2:16 PM EST, 4 hours 54 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
316 PM EDT TUE MAY 14 2002

SHORT TERM...AREAS OF CU AND SCATTERED SHOWERS/ISOLATED TSTMS OVER
OUR AREA THIS AFTERNOON SHOULD FADE AWAY BY DARK...WITH THE LOSS OF
DAYTIME HEATING AND THE PASSAGE OF AN H5 SHORTWAVE. THE GRADIENT
BETWEEN DEPARTING LOW PRESSURE OVER NORTHERN NEW ENGLAND AND
BUILDING HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE CENTRAL U.S. REMAINS RELATIVELY
TIGHT THROUGH WED AFTERNOON...KEEPING WINDS FROM DROPPING OFF TOO
MUCH TONIGHT.

WEDNESDAY WILL BE MILDER THAN TODAY...WITH PLENTY OF SUNSHINE AND
RECOVERING H8-H10 THICKNESSES IN THE AFTERNOON. BREEZY CONDITIONS
WILL ALSO BE WITH US ONCE AGAIN...AS GRADIENT STAYS UP UNTIL
AFTERNOON AND WE MIX DOWN STRONGER WINDS FROM ALOFT.

WINDS DIMINISH WEDNESDAY NIGHT AS THE HIGH BUILDS OVER US...THEN
PICK UP OUT OF THE SOUTHWEST AGAIN ON THURSDAY AS THE HIGH SLIDES
OFF THE SOUTHEAST COAST...AND TEMPS WARM UP INTO THE 70S NORTH AND
NEAR 80 SOUTH.

AS FOR TEMPS...MOS GUIDANCE GENERALLY OK...BUT UNDERCUT DAYTIME
HIGHS FOR THURSDAY AS SOME HIGH/MID LEVEL CLOUDS MOVE THROUGH
NORTHERN/CENTRAL ZONES IN THE AFTERNOON AHEAD OF NEXT FRONTAL SYSTEM.

EXTENDED...NEXT SIGNIFICANT WX TO COME FRIDAY AHEAD OF DEVELOPING
LOW PRESSURE AND ASSOCIATED COLD FRONT...WITH ANOTHER ROUND OF LATE
DAY/EVENING SHOWERS/TSTMS. AVN PROGGED WIND FIELDS FOR LATE FRIDAY
SUGGEST THIS BEARS SOME WATCHING. WILL KEEP SHOWERS AROUND FOR
SATURDAY...AS AMPLIFYING H5 PATTERN SUGGESTS FRONT WILL SLOW DOWN AS
IT BECOMES MORE ALIGNED WITH UPPER FLOW.

MARINE...SCA REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR OUR COASTAL WATERS.

.PHI...
DE...NONE.
MD...NONE.
NJ...NONE.
PA...NONE.
MARINE...SCA NJ/DE COASTS AND DE BAY.

GOODMAN

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 14, 5:12 PM EST, 1 hour 58 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY, NJ
612 PM EDT TUE MAY 14 2002

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0530 PM    ALLENTOWN                 PA   WIND DAMAGE
05/14/02   LEHIGH                         TREE DOWN

0540 PM    READING                   PA   WIND DAMAGE
05/14/02   BERKS                          WIRES DOWN

GSS

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Thunderstorm Wind, Kent

When: May 14, 7:10 PM EST
Where: Kent County, Clayton
Measured: 50 kt (58 mph)
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 39.283, -75.633

What these are

Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Delaware in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Delaware, May 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: 5300208.