Remnants of hurricane Isabel moved up through western Pennsylvania and western New York on the 19th. It brought with it high winds.
Every event with a place to put it; 7 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 BGM wrote it up.
Remnants of hurricane Isabel moved up through western Pennsylvania and western New York on the 19th. It brought with it high winds. Most locations had gusts to between 40 and 50 mph, but higher elevations may have had higher gusts. Scattered reports of trees and wires down were common. Tens of thousands of electric customers were without power. A few trees and wires fell on cars and houses, and closed roads.
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 Binghamton, NY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 19, 2:00 AM EST, 3 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BINGHAMTON NY 300 AM EDT FRI SEP 19 2003 ISABEL MOVING AT A NICE CLIP...AND SHD ENTER SW PA SHRTLY. RAIN IS HAVING A HARD TIME MAKING IT INTO THE FCST AREA...PRBLY DUE TO THE LRG HI OVER NEW ENG. SYSTEM IS SUPPLYING COOL DRY AIR AT THE LOW LVLS. DEW PTS REMAIN IN THE 50S AND UPPER 40S ACROSS MUCH OF THE CWA. THIS COOL DRY AIR IS ALSO ENFRCG THE INVERSION SO HIER WINDS ARE HAVING A HARD TIME RCHG THE SFC. THIS SHD ALL CHG THIS MRNG AS ISABEL BRINGS HER TROPICAL ENVIROMENT WITH HER. DEW PTS WILL RISE OVRNGT AND RAIN SHD MVE INTO ALL ZONES THIS MRNG. MAIN CNCRN FOR TODAY IS THE PSBLTY OF SVR WX...ESP OVER THE ERN ZONES AS A DRY SLOT WRKS UP ARND THE EAST SIDE OF THE DECAYING STORM. THIS WILL ALLOW SFC HTG AND DESTABILIZATION AHD OF THE LOW...WHICH THEN PRESSES NEWRD AS AN EXTRATROPICAL LOW. CAPES NOT ALL THAT IMPRESSIVE...BUT CONSIDERABLE SHEAR IN THE IMPRESSIVE WIND PROFILE COULD ALLOW THE FORMATION OF ISLTD SVR CELLS AND EVEN TORNADOS. WILL ISSUE A SEVERE WX OUTLOOK FOR THE SRN AND ERN ZONES. WINDS WILL LIKELY GET GUSTY AFTER INV IS MIXED OUT...BUT MAY NOT RCH ADVISORY LVLS. STILL...WE/VE ALREADY HAD RPTS OF TREES DOWN WITH THE VERY WET GROUND AND VERY GREEN TREES...SO ADVISORY WILL STAY. FLOOD WATCH IFFY TOO...BUT WITH THE RAIN BEARING DOWN ON US...WLD NOT BE WISE TO LWR. ALSO...THERE/S A GOOD PSBLTY OF SOME TRAINING OVER THE WRN ZONES WHICH HAVE HAD RECENT FLOODING PRBLMS. ISABEL LFTS OUT THIS EVENING AND WILL ALLOW FOR A DRY AND SUNNY START FOR THE WEEKEND. LOOKED OVER THE XTNDD PD AND CRNT FCST LOOKS GOOD...NO CHGS. .BGM...WIND ADVISORY AND FLOOD WATCH TODAY ALL ZONES. MORFORD
NYZ005-009-015>018-022>025-036-037-044>046-055>057-062-PAZ038>040- 043-044-047-048-072-191200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BINGHAMTON NY 310 AM EDT THU SEP 18 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL NEW YORK AND NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY... THUNDERSTORMS ARE LIKELY TODAY AS TROPICAL STORM ISABEL MOVES THROUGH THE AREA. THE BEST CHANCE FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IS OVER THE WESTERN CATSKILLS...THE EASTERN SOUTHERN TIER...AND NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA WHERE SOME AFTERNOON SUNSHINE MAY HELP THE STORMS STRENGTHEN. THERE IS A SLIGHT CHANCE OF AN ISOLATED TORNADO IN THE SEVERE STORMS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON. MORFORD
NYZ045-046-055>057-062-PAZ038>040-043-044-047-048-072-191500- SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BINGHAMTON NY 322 AM EDT FRI SEP 19 2003 ...SCATTERED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA, AND THE WESTERN CATSKILLS AND SOUTHERN SUSQUEHANNA REGION OF CENTRAL NEW YORK... THE REMNANTS OF ISABEL WILL LIFT NORTHWARD INTO WESTERN NEW YORK THIS AFTERNOON. GUSTY SOUTHEAST WINDS TO THE EAST OF THIS SYSTEM WILL DRAW HUMID AND UNSTABLE AIR INTO NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA, AND THE WESTERN CATSKILLS AND SOUTHERN SUSQUEHANNA REGION OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. THIS WILL SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THESE AREAS THIS AFTERNOON. THE MAIN THREAT FROM THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE STRONG AND DAMAGING WINDS, BUT THERE IS ALSO THE POSSIBILITY THAT THESE STORMS COULD PRODUCE AN ISOLATED TORNADO. IN ADDITION, TORRENTIAL DOWNPOURS WILL LIKELY ACCOMPANY THE THUNDERSTORMS, WHICH COULD RESULT IN LOCALIZED FLASH FLOODING. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR FAVORITE LOCAL MEDIA OUTLETS FOR FURTHER DETAILS OR UPDATES FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE...OR VISIT OUR INTERNET WEB SITE AT WEATHER.GOV.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
7 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Pennsylvania in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Pennsylvania, September 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: 5371639, 5371640, 5371641, 5371642, 5371643, 5371644, 5371645.