The remnants of Hurricane Frances produced torrential rainfall across Western Connecticut on September 8th. Storm total rainfall amounts ranging from an inch to up to 6 inches were common across the area.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 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 OKX wrote it up.
The remnants of Hurricane Frances produced torrential rainfall across Western Connecticut on September 8th. Storm total rainfall amounts ranging from an inch to up to 6 inches were common across the area. This caused extensive flash flooding of mainly 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 New York, NY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 8, 2:30 AM EST, 6 hours 20 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE UPTON NY 330 AM EDT WED SEP 8 2004 .SHORT TERM (TODAY THROUGH THURSDAY)... TROPICAL AIRMASS MAKING ITS WAY NORTHWARD. DEWPOINTS ACROSS THE AREA ARE IN THE MID 60S TO LOWER 70S. RADAR HAS BEEN SHOWING HEAVY SHOWERS MOVING SLOWLY NORTHWARD MAINLY ACROSS EASTERN ZONES. RAINFALL RATES OF A LITTLE OVER AN INCH IN ONE HOUR HAS BEEN REPORTED. AS THE AREA CONTINUES TO MOVE NORTH IT LOOKS TO BE WEAKENING. THE MAIN FOCUS LATE TODAY INTO THURSDAY FOR CONVECTION WILL BE WITH THE REMNANTS OF T.D. FRANCES AS IT TRACKS WEST OF THE APPALACHIANS. ALL MODELS IN GOOD AGREEMENT IN TAKING REMNANTS OF T.D. FRANCES OVER THE WEST SIDE OF THE APPALACHIANS. THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS TIMING. THE ETA A TAD SLOWER THAN THE GFS AND THE UKMET. WILL CONTINUE TO FORECAST BASED ON THE GFS. THURSDAY SHOULD REMAIN PRETTY HUMID AND BREEZY WITH SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. AT THIS TIME EXPECTED QPF ONE TO TWO INCHES ACROSS THE AREA THROUGH FRIDAY AFTERNOON. DAYTIME HIGHS THROUGH THE PERIOD WILL BE NORMAL...BUT LOWS WILL BE SEVERAL DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL IN THE TROPICAL AIRMASS. && .LONG TERM (THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY)... COLD FRONT OVER THE GREAT LAKES REGION MOVES SOUTHEAST ACROSS THE AREA LATE THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY. DRY CONDITIONS EXPECTED FROM FRIDAY AFTERNOON INTO THE WEEKEND. ANOTHER FRONT APPROACHES DURING THE DAY SUN WITH FRONTAL PASSAGE EXPECTED AT NIGHT. LARGE SURFACE HIGH BUILDS ACROSS EASTERN CANADA AND THE NORTHEAST MON AND TUE WITH NEAR SEASONABLE TEMPS. && .AVIATION... A MIXED BAG OF LIFR TO MVFR CIGS AND VIS ACROSS THE REGION. BAND OF HEAVY SHOWERS ORIENTED NE-SW FROM KHVN TO KJFK WILL CONTINUE TO PUSH NW THROUGH CITY AIRPORTS AND NW BETWEEN NOW AND 11Z WITH GENERALLY IFR CONDITIONS. TO THE SE OF THE PASSING BAND...EXPECT CIGS AND VIS TO GRADUALLY DROP TO LIFR. CONDITIONS WILL ONLY IMPROVE SLIGHTLY AFTER SUNRISE TO IFR/LOW MVFR CIGS AND MVFR VSBY WITH SHRA. VSBY COULD REMAIN IFR OVER KHPN...KISP...AND KGON THROUGH A GOOD PART OF THE MORNING. SHOWER ACTIVITY BECOMES MORE WIDESPREAD AND HEAVIER FROM 16Z ON...WITH IFR CONDITIONS IN HEAVY SHOWERS. EXPECT CONDITIONS TO DROP TO IFR/LIFR ACROSS MOST REGION AFTER 02Z TONIGHT. && .MARINE... SEAS ON THE OCEAN WATERS ARE BETWEEN 3 AND 4 FT CURRENTLY...BUT EXPECT THEM TO BUILD TO MARGINAL SCA TODAY ON TIGHTENING SE GRADIENT. THE SEAS WILL THEN BUILD TO 6 TO 9 FT BY FRIDAY AS A TIGHT SSE GRADIENT DEVELOPS BETWEEN APPROACHING REMNANTS OF FRANCES AND WESTERN ATLANTIC RIDGE. WINDS THEMSELVES SHOULD APPROACH OR EXCEED SCA CRITERIA THURSDAY INTO EARLY FRIDAY AHEAD OF AN APPROACHING COLD FRONT MERGED WITH REMNANTS OF FRANCES. WINDS ON THE SOUND AND HARBOR APPEAR TO REMAIN JUST BELOW CRITERIA AT THIS TIME. WINDS WILL RELAX BELOW SCA FROM WEST TO EAST FRIDAY NIGHT AS A COLD FRONT CROSSES THE WATERS AND SHIFTS FLOW TO THE NW. SEAS ON THE OCEAN MAY FINALLY SUBSIDE BELOW SCA BY SATURDAY NIGHT WITH OFFSHORE FLOW. && .HYDROLOGY...LOOKING AT 1 TO 2 INCHES OF RAINFALL THROUGH FRIDAY CROSS LI/SRN CT AND ACROSS THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS OF NW CT AND THE LOWER HUDSON VALLEY. BASED ON GUIDANCE OVER 3 INCHES OF RAINFALL IS NEEDED TO CAUSE FLOODING PROBLEMS. WITH CURRENT QPF AMOUNTS NO FLOODING PROBLEMS ARE EXPECTED AT THIS TIME...WITH THE EXCEPTION OF SOME MINOR NUISANCE URBAN AND SMALL STREAM FLOODING. && .OKX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... CT...NONE. NJ...NONE. NY...NONE. MARINE...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR ROUGH OCEAN SEAS...ANZ355-353-350. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE UPTON NY 517 AM EDT WED SEP 8 2004 CTZ005>012-NJZ002>006-011-NYZ067>081-080915- BERGEN NJ-BRONX NY-EASTERN PASSAIC NJ-ESSEX NJ-HUDSON NJ- KINGS (BROOKLYN) NY-NASSAU NY-NEW YORK (MANHATTAN) NY- NORTHEAST SUFFOLK NY-NORTHERN FAIRFIELD CT-NORTHERN MIDDLESEX CT- NORTHERN NEW HAVEN CT-NORTHERN NEW LONDON CT-NORTHERN WESTCHESTER NY- NORTHWEST SUFFOLK NY-ORANGE NY-PUTNAM NY-QUEENS NY- RICHMOND (STATEN IS.) NY-ROCKLAND NY-SOUTHEAST SUFFOLK NY- SOUTHERN FAIRFIELD CT-SOUTHERN MIDDLESEX CT-SOUTHERN NEW HAVEN CT- SOUTHERN NEW LONDON CT-SOUTHERN WESTCHESTER NY-SOUTHWEST SUFFOLK NY- UNION NJ-WESTERN PASSAIC NJ- 517 AM EDT WED SEP 8 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST NEW YORK... NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY AND SOUTHERN CONNECTICUT. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND THURSDAY THERE IS THE POTENTIAL FOR HEAVY RAIN TODAY INTO THURSDAY AS THE REMNANTS OF HURRICANE DRIFT UP ALONG THE APPALACHIANS. PRECIPITATION AMOUNTS OF 1 TO 2 INCHES IS EXPECTED. NO SIGNIFICANT FLOODING IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED LATE TODAY AND TONIGHT.
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE UPTON NY 949 AM EDT WED SEP 8 2004 CTZ005-006-009-010-NJZ002>006-011-NYZ067>071-074-077-078-080-081600- BERGEN NJ-EASTERN PASSAIC NJ-ESSEX NJ-HUDSON NJ-NASSAU NY- NORTHERN FAIRFIELD CT-NORTHERN NEW HAVEN CT-NORTHERN WESTCHESTER NY- NORTHWEST SUFFOLK NY-ORANGE NY-PUTNAM NY-RICHMOND (STATEN IS.) NY- ROCKLAND NY-SOUTHERN FAIRFIELD CT-SOUTHERN NEW HAVEN CT- SOUTHERN WESTCHESTER NY-SOUTHWEST SUFFOLK NY-UNION NJ- WESTERN PASSAIC NJ- 949 AM EDT WED SEP 8 2004 AN AREA OF MODERATE TO HEAVY RAIN WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE NORTH FROM NEW YORK CITY AND EASTERN NEW JERSEY AND INTO THE LOWER HUDSON VALLEY. RAINFALL RATES WILL APPROACH 2 INCHES PER HOUR IN THE HEAVIEST OF THE RAIN. THIS RAIN HAS A HISTORY OF PRODUCING SIGNIFICANT PONDING OF WATER ON ROADS AS WELL AS ROAD FLOODING. MOTORISTS ARE ADVISED TO EXERCISE CAUTION AND NOT DRIVE THROUGH WATER COVERED ROADS. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO AND OTHER LOCAL MEDIA FOR FURTHER DETAILS OR UPDATES. SILVA
The Brookhaven radar (KOKX), 71 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 13:48 UTC.
2 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
A spotter in Ridgefield reported that the rainfall rate was up to 1.9 inches per hour in torrential downpours. Many streets in Ridgefield experienced flash flooding.
Torrential rains caused flash flooding of streets in Wilton.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Connecticut in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyWarnings in Connecticut, September 2004
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: 5421530, 5421531.