Maryland, 2003

Heavy Rain in Maryland, September 22 to 23, 2003

September 22 to 23, 2003 · NWS PHI · 3 events in 3 counties and zones

A slow moving cold front helped produce heavy rain as it displaced a warm and humid air mass preceding it. While showers with heavy rain began during the late evening of the 22nd, the heaviest rain fell around the time of cold frontal passage (sunrise) on the 23rd.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 3 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
3

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 cold front helped produce heavy rain as it displaced a warm and humid air mass preceding it. While showers with heavy rain began during the late evening of the 22nd, the heaviest rain fell around the time of cold frontal passage (sunrise) on the 23rd. Doppler Radar Storm totals ranged from 1 to 3 inches. The heaviest rain fell in western parts of Queen Anne's, Kent and Cecil Counties. Poor drainage flooding occurred, but no stream flooding was reported. Storm totals included 2.40 inches at the Baltimore-Washington International Airport and 1.10 inches in Easton (Talbot County). September 2003 was an unseasonably wet month throughout the Eastern Shore. On a county weighted average, monthly precipitation totals ranged from 5.9 inches in Talbot County to 10.0 inches in Cecil County. Normal is around 3.6 inches. The monthly precipitation total at the Baltimore-Washington International Airport was 7.47 inches, 3.49 inches wetter than normal.

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 Sep 22, 7:15 PM EST, 1 hour 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 22, 7:15 PM EST, 1 hour 45 minutes before
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The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Rain, Cecil

When
September 22, 9:00 PM EST to September 23, 7:00 AM EST
Where
Cecil County, Countywide
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
39.562, -75.948 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Rain, Kent

When
September 22, 9:00 PM EST to September 23, 7:00 AM EST
Where
Kent County, Countywide
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
39.236, -76.096 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Rain, Queen Anne'S

When
September 22, 9:00 PM EST to September 23, 7:00 AM EST
Where
Queen Anne'S County, Countywide
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
39.038, -76.085 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

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

More

Every storm in Maryland in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Maryland, September 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: 5336423, 5336424, 5336425.