Flood in New York, March 21, 2003

Name: Flood in New York, March 21, 2003
Start: 2003-03-21T20:00
End: 2003-03-21T23:59
Location: New York

March 21, 2003 · NWS BTV · 1 event in 1 county or zone

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

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $1,000
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 BTV wrote it up.

A storm system moved from the Missouri Valley on Thursday, March 20th northeast across the Ohio valley on Friday, March 21st, then continued northeast and weakened. This system resulted in rainfall (between 3/4 and 1 inch) on the 20th and 21st across the area, coupled with unusually mild weather. The resulting snowmelt resulted in the formation of ice jams on swollen rivers. Along the Saranac River in Morrisonville, minor field flooding was reported on the 21st.

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 Burlington, VT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 21, 2:49 PM EST, 5 hours 11 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 21, 2:49 PM EST, 5 hours 11 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BURLINGTON VT
249 PM EST FRI MAR 21 2003

BOTTOM LINE...WILL NEED TO EXTEND FFA THRU SAT DUE TO THE CONTINUED
THREAT OF ICE JAMS WITH MORE RAINFALL EXPECTED AND ICE JAMS/HIGH
WATER ALREADY IN PLACE IN SEVERAL LOCATIONS.

STORM SYS TO MOVE ACRS THE FA FROM THE GREAT LKS REGION TONITE THRU
SAT NITE...THEN MOVE TO THE EAST OF THE FA ON SUN. WK HI PRESS TO
BUILD ACRS THE FA ON SUN NITE/MON. CF TO MOVE ACRS THE GREAT LKS
REGION ON MON/MON NITE. SECONDARY UPR TROF TO MOVE ACRS THE FA ON
SUN/SUN NITE.

WK H85 WAA TO TAKE PLACE ACRS THE FA TONITE AND ON SUN NITE...THEN
CAA FOR SAT AND WK CAA ON SAT NITE/SUN. H85 TEMPS TO GO NEGATIVE ACRS
THE FA BY LATER ON SAT AND THEN GO BACK ABOVE 0C BY LATER ON MON.
LOW-LVL MSTR ADVECTION TO TAKE PLACE ACRS THE FA TONITE AND ON
MON/MON NITE. LOW-LVL MSTR TO RETURN ACRS THE FA FROM THE WEST
TONITE...THEN LINGER ACRS THE FA RIGHT THRU AT LEAST MON NITE.
LOW-LVL LAPSE RATES TO BE HI ACRS THE FA SAT NITE THRU SUN NITE. GOOD
MID-LVL MSTR TO AFFECT THE FA TONITE AND AGAIN LATE ON SAT AND INTO
SAT NITE. PW VALUES LOOK TO BE AROUND 0.75 ACRS THE FA TONITE...THEN
AROUND 0.5 ON SAT...AND 0.3-0.4 ON SAT NITE THRU MON.

BUFCAN/88D MOSAIC SHOWS SOME PCPN MOVING NE ACRS WRN NY STATE AND THE
ERN GREAT LKS REGION ATTM. SAT PIX SHOW THAT A FAIR AMT OF CLEARING
OCCURRED ACRS THE FA TODAY. CLDS/PCPN EXPECTED TO ROLL BACK INTO THE
FA FROM THE SW TONITE (BEST CHC FOR SHRA APPEARS TO BE ACRS THE WRN
ZONES DUE TO THEIR PROXIMITY TO THE UPR LOW). CHC POPS STILL LOOK TO
BE THE WAY TO GO FOR NOW FOR SAT THRU SUN WITH SNOW LEVELS EXPECTED
TO OSCILLATE UP AND DOWN ACRS THE FA BY LATER ON SAT THRU SUN. THE
MTN ZONES SHOULD HAVE THE BEST CHC FOR SEEING SN DURING THIS
TIME-FRAME. SOME PARTIAL CLEARING EXPECTED ACRS THE FA ON SUN NITE
THRU MON NITE BEFORE THE NEXT SYS STARTS TO AFFECT THE FA.

QPF ACRS THE FA APPEARS TO BE BLO 0.2 THRU 00Z SUN. RIVERS HAVE
RESPONDED TO SNOWMELT AND LAST NITE/S THIRD OF AN INCH TO JUST OVER
AN INCH OF RAIN. A FEW LOCATIONS HAVE EXPERIENCED SOME FIELD FLOODING
AND ICE JAMS AS WELL. WITH ABOVE FREEZING TEMPS AND LIQUID PCPN STILL
IN THE FCST OVER THE NEXT 24 HRS...WILL OPT TO EXTEND THE FFA ACRS
THE FA THRU SAT.

INTO THE REST OF THE EXTENDED PERIOD...CF EXPECTED TO MOVE ACRS THE
FA SOMETIME ON TUE/WED...THEN THE LATEST DATA ON THE SYS FOR THU
LOOKS LIKE THAT STORM MIGHT BE TOO FAR SOUTH TO AFFECT THE FA(?).
WITH THIS BEING SO FAR OUT STILL...WILL HANG ONTO CONTINUITY FCST FOR
THU FOR NOW AND CONT WITH CHC POPS FOR SHRA ON TUE/WED. HI PRESS (AND
DRIER WX) EXPECTED TO START TO MOVE INTO THE FA FROM THE WEST ON NEXT
FRI.

WRK ZONES OUT UNDER ALBWRKCWF. FINAL ZFP AND UPDATED FFA BY 4 PM.

.BTV...FFA THRU SAT FOR NYZ026>031-034-035-VTZ001>012.

MURRAY

Hazardous weather outlook, Mar 21, 4:36 AM EST, 15 hours 24 minutes before

NYZ026>031-034-035-VTZ001>012-221000-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BURLINGTON VT
436M EST FRI MAR 21 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL AND NORTHERN VERMONT
AS WELL AS NORTHERN NEW YORK.

.DAY ONE...TODAY

LIGHT RAIN SHOWERS ARE EXPECTED TODAY...WITH LITTLE ACCUMULATIONS. A
FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT INTO EARLY EVENING...RIVERS MAY RISE
DURING THE DAY FROM PREVIOUS DAYS RAINFALL. WARM TEMPERATURES TODAY
WILL ALSO ASSIST IN FURTHER MELTING ANY RIVER ICE...THUS INCREASING
THE CHANCES FOR ICE JAM FLOODING AS WELL.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED.

.SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Northeast Clinton

When: March 21, 8:00 PM EST to 11:59 PM EST
Where: Northeast Clinton forecast zone
Property damage: $1,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 44.746, -73.678 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Flood: Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in New York in 2003 Every state in 2003 This day in weather history Warnings in New York, March 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: 5348949.