Name: Flood in Pennsylvania, June 4, 2003
Start: 2003-06-04T07:54
End: 2003-06-04T16:40
Location: Pennsylvania

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.

Heavy rain fell across Montgomery County between 3 a.m. and 10 a.m. EDT on the 4th. Storm totals averaged around 2 inches. The recent wet weather coupled with this rain caused urban and poor drainage flooding and flooding along the East Branch of the Perkiomen Creek. The East Branch of the Perkiomen Creek in was above its 7 foot flood stage from 854 a.m. through 540 p.m. EDT on the 4th. It crested at 8.28 feet at 230 p.m. EDT. The creek swept away a vegetable garden from one home in Schwenksville. Storm totals included 2.60 inches in Pottstown, 2.57 inches in Green Lane, 2.24 inches in Palm, 2.16 inches in Norristown, 1.78 inches in Hatboro and 1.57 inches at the Willow Grove NAS. The low pressure system that caused the heavy rain moved from the Southern Plains the morning of the 2nd, into the Ohio Valley the morning of the 3rd, near Pittsburgh the morning of the 4th and into Lake Erie during the evening of the 4th. The heavy rain preceded the arrival of this low pressure system's warm front.

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 4, 1:55 AM EST, 5 hours 59 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 4, 1:55 AM EST, 5 hours 59 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
255 AM EDT WED JUN 4 2003

WE/RE GOING TO CANCEL THE FLOOD WATCH IN MOST OF OUR CWA EXCEPT FOR
SOMERSET AND MORRIS WHERE RUNOFF PBLMS MIGHT STILL CAUSE FLOODING
ALG PARTS OF THE PASSAIC AND SOMERSET BASINS. AXIS OF HVYST PCPN IS
MOVG NE AND PCPN AMTS WERE LIGHT ENUF TO NOT CAUSE FLOODING. QPF
AMTS SO FAR HAVE AVERAGED ABT AN INCH. THE DRIER ETA AT THIS
JUNCTURE DID THE BEST OF THE THREE U.S. MDLS. THE ETA HAS INIT
BETTER AT H5 AND THE GFS DID BETTER AT H8. BOTH MDLS THO ARE PRETTY
SIM AS THEIR WAA INDCD PCPN AXIS SHIFTS OFSHR ERLY TDY. THERE WILL
BE LESS OF A CHC FOR PCPN AS THE DAY WEARS ON UNTIL THE OCFNT
PASSAGE APCHS TNGT. THE ONSHR FLOW SHLD PREVENT ANY SVR CONVECTION
TDY...MUCH CONVECTION IF AT ALL. WE/LL ADD A CHC OF THUNDER IN SRN
ZNS CLOSEST TO TRIPLE POINT.

OCEAN TEMPS ARE STILL IN THE 50S AND WITH WEAK ONSHR FLOW CONTG TDY
WE PREFER LEANING TWD THE COOLER GFS MOS GUID. WORDING ON FCST WILL
DEPEND UPON HOW MUCH PCPN CLRS THE CWA ERLY THIS MRNG. AS MENTIONED
ABV WE WILL LWR CHCS AS DAY WEARS ON. THERE SHLD BE AN INCRG CHC LTR
IN THE DAY AS OCFNT AND SHRT WV APCH. WE WILL INCLD THE CHC OF TSRA
FAR SRN ZNS CLOSEST TO TRIPLE PT WHERE ETA FCSTG CAPES CLS TO 1000J
AND TT AND K INDICES ARE AT LOW END OF THUNDER PTNL. THIS IS MORE
FOR THUNDER SPILLING INTO THE AREA THEN DVLPG HERE. VERY IMPRESSUVE
JET STRUCTURE ALF...WE/RE FORTUNATE TO HAVE MARINE AREA TO KEEP US
STABLE NEAR THE SFC.

WE/LL KEEP PCPN CHCS IN FOR TNGT AS OCFNT MOVES THRU OUR CWA. THERE
ISN/T ENUF INSTAB TO INCLUDE THUNDER OTHER THAN SPILLOVER EARLY IN
THE EVE SRN ZNS. THIS DOESN/T ALWAYS WORK...BUT IT APRS THERE MAY BE
ENUF WIND/CLDS TO PREVENT US FROM FOGGING IN TNGT. DAY SHIFT CAN
REACCESS. WE/RE LEANING TWD COOLER GFS MOS GUID GIVEN WE/RE NOT
EXPECTING TEMPS TO DO MUCH TDY. AIR MASS BEHIND THIS LOW IS NOT
TERRIBLY COOL.

WINDS WILL BE DOWNSLOPING AND OFSHR THU AND WILL BE A PLEASANT CHG
FROM TDY. GUID MAX TEMPS OVERALL LOOK REASONABLE AND WE WILL AVG THE
HIER OF THE TWO DATA SETS BASED ON FULL SUN MACROS AND FCSTD H8
TEMPS. WE WILL ADD A CHC OF LATE DAY SHRA IN FAR NRN ZNS BASED ON
AFTN ARRIVAL OF DECENT SHRT WV. INSTAB PARAMETERS FOR NOW PRECLUDE
THE MNTN OF THUNDER.

NOT TOO MANY CHGS TO THE EXTDD. ANOTHER DECENT DAY ON FRI. NEXT PCPN
SHOT APRS SLATED FOR SAT. LATEST GFS PUSHES PCPN SHOT AFT THAT BACK
TO TUE. WE/RE NOT GOING TO CHG EXTDD BASED ON OTHER MED RNG MDLS
STILL HAVE IT SCHEDULED TO MON.

MARINE: WE/LL CONT SCA FOR SEAS ON THE OCEAN ONLY.

TU FOR COORD/12 OKX AND SPC. GRIDS ARE IN.

.PHI...
DE...NONE.
MD...NONE.
NJ...FLOOD WATCH THROUGH MIDDAY TDY FOR ZONES NJZ008>010.
PA...NONE.
MARINE...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY ALONG NJ AND DE ATLANTIC COAST.

TFG

Hazardous weather outlook, Jun 4, 4:28 AM EST, 3 hours 26 minutes before

DEZ001>004-MDZ008-012-015-019-020-NJZ001-007>010-012>027-PAZ054-055-
060>062-067>071-041130-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
528 AM EDT WED JUN 4 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 REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR SOMERSET AND MORRIS COUNTIES.
ELSEWHERE HEAVY RAIN SHOULD BE ENDING VERY EARLY THIS MORNING.

THERE IS ALSO A MODERATE RISK FOR RIP CURRENTS TODAY ALONG THE
OCEAN.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.

TFG

Event by event

1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Montgomery

When: June 4, 7:54 AM EST to 4:40 PM EST
Where: Montgomery forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

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

More

Every storm in Pennsylvania in 2003 Every state in 2003 This day in weather history Warnings in Pennsylvania, 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: 5363983.