Heavy Rain, Kent
- When
- June 20, 11:00 AM EST to 6:00 PM EST
- Where
- Kent County, Countywide
- Reported by
- AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
- Coordinates
- 39.096, -75.505 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Heavy Rain in Delaware, June 20, 2003
A slow moving low pressure system at both the surface and aloft helped trigger heavy rain across Kent and New Castle Counties in Delaware. 0 inches, most of which fell during the afternoon.
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
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.
A slow moving low pressure system at both the surface and aloft helped trigger heavy rain across Kent and New Castle Counties in Delaware. In Kent County, storm totals averaged between 1.0 and 2.0 inches, most of which fell during the afternoon. This caused poor drainage flooding. Storm totals included 1.21 inches at the Dover AFB. The low pressure system responsible for the heavy rain formed along a stationary front over the Carolinas during the morning of the 20th. It moved to just east of Wallops Island, Virginia during the evening of the 20th and well east of the Delmarva Peninsula during the morning of the 21st. An inverted trough at the surface that extended from the low north into Chesapeake Bay and Eastern Pennsylvania concentrated the heavy rain along its axis. June as a whole was an unseasonably wet month for Delaware. On a county weighted average, June monthly precipitation totals ranged from 5.0 inches in Sussex County to 7.1 inches in Kent County to 9.5 inches in New Castle County. Normal is around 3.5 inches. The June monthly precipitation total in Georgetown was 4.86 inches, 1.54 inches wetter than normal. The wet spring weather led to a whole different set of problems from the drought of the previous year. Planted seeds were drowning and rotting. Tobacco farmers were worrying about mold. Many soybean, corn and berry fields were too wet. There were also problems with slugs. Vegetables were generally about a month behind. Double crop fields fell behind schedule because of the slow growth of straw and hay. Garden shops sales have been down. Pool installations were about three to six weeks behind. Ant infestations increased. Windshield wipers were tearing. Many spring athletic seasons were extended because of postponed events. There will be a bumper crop of mosquitoes. Attendance along the shore and at amusement parks was down. Road work was delayed. The one few positives from the wet weather was lower utility bills.
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 Jun 20, 10:33 AM EST, 27 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jun 20, 10:33 AM EST, 27 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ 1133 AM EDT FRI JUN 20 2003 MINOR CHANGES MADE TO PREV FCST. ENERGY ROTATING AROUND CUTTING OFF LOW AT MID LEVELS ON WATER VAPOR IMAGERY...AND THE 12Z ETA IS LOOKING QUITE LIKE THE 06Z GFS WITH REGARDS TO THE H8 TO H5 OMEGA FIELD. USED THOSE TO MODIFY ONSET OF PCPN TIMING FOR SERN AND ERN ZONES WHERE RAIN HAS NOT YET BEGUN. LEAST LIKELY PLACE FOR CONVECTION IS OVER THE NRN NJ COAST AND ADJACENT INLAND COUNTIES...BUT DONT FEEL COMFORTABLE ABOUT REMOVING MENTION OF A CHANCE. WE KEPT THE FLOOD WATCH GOING...GOOD H8 DWPTS AND DECENT PWATER VALUES...AND CONVECTION THAT MAKES IT INTO AT LEAST WRN PORTION OF FA SHOULD CAUSE ROBUST RAINFALLS. SOME SMALL TWEAKS TO TEMPERATURES. OTHERWISE NO CHANGES. STILL NO FLAGS ON THE MARINE. BULK OF PREV AFD IS BELOW. .PHI...FLOOD WATCH THROUGH SATURDAY FOR PAZ054-055-060>062-067>071- NJZ001-007>010-012>027-DEZ001>004-MDZ008-012-015-019-020. MARINE...NONE. MPD ********************************************************************** THE FIRST ROUND OF SIG RAIN OCCURRED OVR NWRN PTNS OF THE CWA THU EVENING AS CONVTN FIRED ALG FNT IN CONCERT WITH DIURNAL HTG AND S/WV ALF. OTHER ROUNDS OF RAIN/TSTMS ARE FCST TDA AND AGAIN SAT. THUS... THE FLD WATCH WL STAY UP AND IN FACT BE EXTDD THRU SAT IN VIEW OF THE INGREDIENTS COMING TOGETHER FOR THIS APRNTLY PROLONGED EVENT. UPPER LO IS CLOSING OFF...AND HPC AND OTHERS ARE FAVORING THE ETA/NGM SOLN OF A MORE SLY LOCN. THIS WUD SHIFT THE FOCUS OF HVY RAIN FURTHER S ON SAT...THUS THE NEED TO EXTND THE WATCH THRU SAT. FOR TDA...WITH THE DSIPTN OF THE AFOREMENTIONED BAND OF RW/TRW... WE/LL KEEP IN A CHC OF SHWRS FOR THE MRNG...RADAR SHOWING RENEWED ACTIVITY NWRN AREAS...AND THEN GO WITH CAT RAIN HVY AT TIMES WITH CHC TSTMS FM LATE MRNG INTO THE EVENING AS FIRST SFC LO MOVS UP THE CST ALG THE OLD BCLINIC BNDRY. THEN WL CONT WITH CAT RAIN/SHWRS LATE TNGT AND SAT...WITH SHWRS LIKELY SAT NITE. WL CONT THE CHC SHWRS SUN AS UPR LO MAY TRY TO MOV A BIT EWD. RE QPF/S...ETA IS CRANKING OUT A BIT OVR 4 INCHES. WL HALVE THIS FOR WDSPRD AMTS BUT LCL AMTS MAY APCH THE HIR FIGURE IF ALL INGREDIENTS COME TOGETHER...SUCH AS FAVBL UPPER WINDS/JET DYNAMICS INTERACTING WITH LO LVL BNDRYS. PSBL THAT NWRN ZONES ARE DESTINED TO GET MOST QPF IF TERRAIN EFX CAN COME INTO PLAY. HPC/S DISC IS SIMILAR TO OUR THINKING...IS THAT A GOOD SIGN OR NOT? TEMPS...PBLY NOT MUCH DIURNAL RANGE TDA/SAT WITH LOTS OF CLDS/PCPN. USED A BLEND OF STAT GUIDANCE. IF WE GET MORE SUN SUNDAY TEMPS ARE LIKELY TO RESPOND...BUT I SHAVED OFF A BIT FRM FWC/S ANYWAY. WL FIGURE ON MID/UPR 70S SUN. ON MARINE...WL KEEP A HEADLINE THAT SCA MAY BE NEEDED FOR SEAS TNGT ON THE OCEAN.
Hazardous weather outlook, Jun 20, 4:50 AM EST, 6 hours 10 minutes before
DEZ001>004-MDZ008-012-015-019-020-NJZ001-007>010-012>027-PAZ054-055- 060>062-067>071-201200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ 550 AM EDT FRI JUN 20 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA...DELAWARE...THE NORTHERN MARYLAND EASTERN SHORE...AND NEW JERSEY EXCLUDING THE FIVE NORTHEAST COUNTIES. .DAY ONE...TODAY A FLOOD WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR THE ENTIRE AREA TODAY AND TONIGHT. RAIN...HEAVY AT TIMES...COULD PRODUCE FLOODING ESPECIALLY ALONG SMALL STREAMS AND CREEKS...IN URBAN AREAS..AND IN POOR DRAINAGE LOCATIONS. SEE FLOOD WATCH STATEMENT UNDER WMO HEADER /WGUS61 KPHI/ FOR MORE DETAILS. THERE IS A LOW TO OCCASIONALLY MODERATE RISK FOR RIP CURRENTS TODAY DURING RISING TIDE ALONG THE NEW JERSEY AND DELAWARE COASTS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... THE FLOOD WATCH WILL CONTINUE SATURDAY. RAIN HEAVY AT TIMES WILL CONTINUE SATURDAY...AND POSSIBLY INTO SATURDAY NIGHT...AND COULD PRODUCE ADDITIONAL FLOODING PROBLEMS ESPECIALLY ALONG SMALL STREAMS AND IN URBAN AREAS WITH POOR DRAINAGE. SCATTERED SHOWERS MAY LINGER SUNDAY AS WELL. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Heavy Rain
- Rainfall totals unusual for the place and season that did not produce a flood.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Tornadoes and Hail in Nebraska, June 20, 2003
- Flood in Pennsylvania, June 20 to 21, 2003
- Hail in Colorado, June 20, 2003
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Texas, June 20, 2003
- Damaging Winds in Texas, June 20, 2003
- Flash Flood in Florida, June 20, 2003
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Texas, June 20, 2003
- Flash Flood in Florida, June 20, 2003
- Damaging Wind in Montana, June 20, 2003
- Hail and Damaging Winds in South Dakota, June 20, 2003
- Tornado and Hail in Colorado, June 20, 2003
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Texas, June 20, 2003
More
Every storm in Delaware in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Delaware, June 2003
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: 5364129.