Strong westerly winds circulating around a nearly stationary low pressure system over southwestern Ontario Province blew across Delaware during the afternoon of the 12th. The strong winds caused a few power outages.
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.
Strong westerly winds circulating around a nearly stationary low pressure system over southwestern Ontario Province blew across Delaware during the afternoon of the 12th. The strong winds caused a few power outages. The wind pushed a transformer off a pole in Dover (Kent County) and halted electrical service for a dozen homes for two hours. A handful of Conectiv customers also briefly lost power in New Castle County. The peak wind gust at the New Castle County Airport was 41 mph. The low pressure system was slow to move northeast and peak wind gusts on the afternoon of the 13th were only slighter (about 5 mph) lower.
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 12, 2:10 AM EST, 8 hours 50 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ 310 AM EDT MON MAY 12 2003 COLD CYCLONIC FLOW ALFT WILL KEEP THE WEATHER COOL INTO MIDWEEK. I GENERALLY EXPECT A DIURNAL TREND TO THE CLOUDS WITH ANY DAYTIME SUNSHINE SELF DISTRUCTING INTO CLOUD COVER AND EVENTUALLY SOME SHOWERS. XTRM SRN ZONES DONT HAVE ENOUGH MOISTURE ALFT TO JUSTIFY MEASUREABLE TODAY...SO JUST SPRINKLES THERE. COOL TEMPS THROUGH MIDWEEK WITH H8 TEMPS BELOW PLUS 5 WHICH SHOULD KEEP TEMPS BELOW 70. THE ONLY EXCEPTION IS TODAY WHERE H8 STARTS AT PLUS 5 SOUTH. NIGHTTIME MINS SHOULD NOT DROP AS COLD AS H8 WOULD SUGGEST DUE TO MIXING AND CLOUD COVER. LONGER RANGE...THE GFS KEEPS FCSTG A DVLPG CLOSED LOW OVER THE FCST AREA AND TO THE WEST SUGGESTING WET WEATHER FRI. THEN FOR NEXT WKND...MORE COOL AIR AND CYCLONIC FLOW ALFT. MAR...WILL RAISE SCA ALL AREAS AS THE GRADIENT INCREASES TO 25 KT. FCSTID = 9 MPO 58 43 58 41 / 40 40 40 40 ABE 62 46 62 44 / 40 40 40 30 RDG 62 46 62 44 / 40 40 40 30 PHL 69 52 68 50 / 30 30 30 30 12N 61 44 61 41 / 30 40 40 40 SMQ 65 46 65 44 / 30 40 40 30 TTN 67 48 67 46 / 30 30 30 30 MIV 70 50 68 43 / 20 30 30 30 ACY 69 51 68 49 / 20 20 20 20 ILG 69 50 68 47 / 30 30 30 30 DOV 70 50 68 49 / 20 20 30 30 GED 70 51 68 45 / 20 10 30 30 ESN 70 51 68 52 / 20 20 30 30 .PHI... DE...NONE. MD...NONE. NJ...NONE. PA...NONE. MARINE...SCA NJ/DE COASTS AND DE BAY. RNS
DEZ001>004-MDZ008-012-015-019-020-NJZ001-007>010-012>027-PAZ054-055- 060>062-067>071-121200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ 515 AM EDT MON MAY 12 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 NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. RNS
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
4 strong wind. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Delaware in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Delaware, May 2003
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: 5357077, 5357078, 5357079, 5357080.