Damaging Wind in Delaware, July 14, 2004

Name: Damaging Wind in Delaware, July 14, 2004
Start: 2004-07-14T15:05
End: 2004-07-14T15:22
Location: Delaware

July 14, 2004 · NWS PHI · 3 events in 1 county or zone

A severe thunderstorm pulled down large tree limbs and wires within Middletown. One tree was split in half by the damaging winds.

Where it happened

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.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

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 severe thunderstorm pulled down large tree limbs and wires within Middletown. One tree was split in half by the damaging winds. The same thunderstorm spawned a couple of funnel clouds as it moved across New Castle County. They were sighted over Middletown and Townsend and also just east of Delaware City over the Delaware River. None of them reached the ground.

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 Jul 14, 8:40 AM EST, 6 hours 25 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 14, 8:40 AM EST, 6 hours 25 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
940 AM EDT WED JUL 14 2004

FCST WILL BE UPDATED TO REMOVE MRNG WORDING AND EXTEND THE FLOOD
WATCH FTHR N. WHL FFG IS HIER IN OUR NRN ZONES...ONGOING SUPPORT FOR
HVYR PCPN IS ALSO THERE. CONCERNED ABT CLUSTER CUR IN THE MID SUSQ
VLY PLUS ANY REGENERATION LTR TDY.

AS FAR AS ORGANIZED SVR WX THREAT IS CONCERNED...IT LOOKS LESS AS LO
CLDS ARE HANGING IN TOUGHER AND THE 06Z ETA APRS TO BE MDL OF
CHOICE. THE GFS IS ALRDY TOO SLOW WITH ONGOING PCPN AS IT APRS TO
MERGE THE TWO SEPARATE SYS INTO ONE. FIRST SHOT OF PCPN COMES THRU
ARND MID-DAY W/O ENUF TIME TO TAP INTO THE HIER CAPES AND 2ND SHOT
MAY ARRIVE TOO LATE TO CAUSE DAMAGING WINDS THIS EVE. AREA OF
CONCERN RMNS IN SRN NJ/DELMARVA WHERE HIEST FCSTD CAPES RMN PLUS
THERE STILL RMNS A THETA E DROP OF 15C WITH HGT AS DRIER AIR IN MID
LVLS IS FCST TO MOVE IN TAFTN.

.PHI WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
PA...FLOOD WATCH THROUGH TONIGHT PAZ054-055-060>062-067>071.
NJ...FLOOD WATCH THROUGH TONIGHT NJZ001-007>010-012-015>020-027.
DE...FLOOD WATCH THROUGH TONIGHT DEZ001.
MD...FLOOD WATCH THROUGH TONIGHT MDZ008.
MARINE/OCEAN...NONE.
MARINE/DEL BAY...NONE.

GORSE/GIGI

PREV AFD ***********************************************************

.OVERVIEW...
MODELS REMAIN IN AGREEMENT THAT VIGOROUS SHORT WAVE TROF WILL MOVE
INTO THE REGION LATE TODAY THEN BECOME SEMI-STNRY INTO NEXT WEEK AS
IT MATURES INTO A LONG WAVE TROF. THIS SHLD KEEP FA IN A GENERAL SFC
TROF PATTERN WITH OCNL LOW PRES FRMTN AND FNTL PASSAGES REFLECTING
UPPER AIR DYNAMICS.
&&

.SHORT TERM (TODAY THROUGH THURSDAY)...
FLOOD WATCH WILL BE IN EFFECT TODAY INTO THIS EVENING FOR THE
CENTRAL SECTION OF THE FA THAT RECEIVED THE VERY HEAVY RAINFALL MON.
SEE WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES SECTION BELOW FOR COUNTIES IN FLOOD
WATCH...AND SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT FOR MORE DETAILED INFORMATION.
&&

.LONG TERM (THU NGT THRU TUE)...
THIS WILL SOUND LIKE A BROKEN RECORD...BUT ONE CLOSED VORTEX OVR THE
NERN U.S. IS FCSTD TO BE REPLACED BY ANOTHER. THE GOOD NEWS IS THERE
WILL NOT BE ANY RECORD BREAKING HEAT IN THE FCST OR TRULY OPPRESIVE
SUMMER HUMIDITY LVLS. THE BAD NEWS IS WITH COLD AIR ALF THIS WILL
LEND ITSELF TO AFTN/EVE SHRA/TSRA EVERY DAY THRU MON. THERE WILL BE
PBLY BE A DRY DAY BTWN THE VORTICES (PSBLY FRI?)...BUT THIS IS NOT
PSBL TO TIME AT THIS JUNCTURE. ON THE OTHER HAND SUN LOOKS LIKE THE
WETTEST OR MOST WDPSRD PCPN DAY OF THE LONG TERM.

&&

.HYDROLOGY...
FLOOD WATCH IS IN EFFECT INTO THIS EVENING FOR LOW FLASH FLOOD
GUIDANCE VALUED COUNTIES. MORE WIDELY SCTD ACTVTY THIS MRNG, XPCTD
TO BECOME MORE NUMEROUS THIS AFTN WITH APPROACH AND PASSAGE OF COLD
FNT.

&&

.MARINE...
WINDS AND SEAS SHOULD REMAIN BELOW SCA CRITERIA THROUGH THE PERIOD.
A COLD FRONT MOVING THROUGH THE REGION THIS EVENING SHOULD BE
ASSOCIATED WITH TSTMS WHICH COULD HAVE GUSTY WINDS AND HEAVY RAINS.
ALSO SOME SHOWERS AND TSTMS MOVING ENE OUT OF MD COULD AFFECT THE
AREA EARLY THIS AM.

&&

.AVIATION...
CLOUDS 1500 TO 2000 FT WERE OVER MOST OF THE REGION NE OF PHL WITH
ANOTHER AREA OF LOW CLOUD MOVING IN FROM MD AND THE SHOWERS AND
TSTMS THERE. THESE SHOWERS AND TSTMS COULD AFFECT MOST AVIATION
STATIONS EARLY THIS AM...FOLLOWED BY A DRY PERIOD INTO THIS AFTN.
THEN ANOTHER ROUND OF TSTMS IS EXPECTED LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND
EVENING WITH A COLD FRONT MOVING DOWN FROM THE NW.

&&

.PHI WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
PA...FLOOD WATCH THROUGH TONIGHT PAZ060-067>071.
NJ...FLOOD WATCH THROUGH TONIGHT NJZ009-010-012-015-017>020-027.
DE...FLOOD WATCH THROUGH TONIGHT DEZ001.
MD...FLOOD WATCH THROUGH TONIGHT MDZ008.
MARINE/OCEAN...NONE.
MARINE/DEL BAY...NONE.

SHORT TERM/WOODWORTH/LONG TERM/GORSE

Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 14, 9:15 AM EST, 5 hours 50 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...CORRECTION FOR SOFTWARE GLITCH
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
1015 AM EDT WED JUL 14 2004

DEZ001>004-MDZ008-012-015-019-020-NJZ001-007>010-012>027-PAZ054-055-
060>062-067>071-151015-
ATLANTIC NJ-ATLANTIC COASTAL CAPE MAY NJ-BERKS PA-BUCKS PA-CAMDEN NJ-
CAPE MAY NJ-CARBON PA-CAROLINE MD-CECIL MD-CHESTER PA-
COASTAL ATLANTIC NJ-COASTAL OCEAN NJ-CUMBERLAND NJ-DELAWARE PA-
DELAWARE BEACHES DE-EASTERN MONMOUTH NJ-GLOUCESTER NJ-HUNTERDON NJ-
INLAND SUSSEX DE-KENT MD-KENT DE-LEHIGH PA-MERCER NJ-MIDDLESEX NJ-
MONROE PA-MONTGOMERY PA-MORRIS NJ-NEW CASTLE DE-NORTHAMPTON PA-
NORTHWESTERN BURLINGTON NJ-OCEAN NJ-PHILADELPHIA PA-QUEEN ANNES MD-
SALEM NJ-SOMERSET NJ-SOUTHEASTERN BURLINGTON NJ-SUSSEX NJ-TALBOT MD-
WARREN NJ-WESTERN MONMOUTH NJ-
1015 AM EDT WED JUL 14 2004

.DAY ONE...TODAY

A FLOOD WATCH IS IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS EVENING FOR ALL OF
EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA, MOST OF CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST NEW JERSEY,
EXTREME NORTHEAST MARYLAND AND NORTHERN NEW JERSEY. LOCALIZED AMOUNTS
UP TO AROUND THREE INCHES ARE POSSIBLE. ORGANIZED SEVERE WEATHER IS
NO LONGER EXPECTED LATER TODAY. NEVERTHELESS THERE COULD BE A COUPLE
OF ISOLATED PULSE TYPE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH THE GREATEST
VULNERABILITY IN SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY AND THE DELMARVA PENINSULA.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MIGHT BE REQUIRED TODAY IN THE ABOVE MENTIONED
FLOOD WATCH.

TFG

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 funnel cloud, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Thunderstorm Wind, New Castle

When: July 14, 3:05 PM EST
Where: New Castle County, Middletown
Measured: 50 kt (58 mph) estimated gust
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 39.450, -75.733

Funnel Cloud, New Castle

When: July 14, 3:05 PM EST to 3:07 PM EST
Where: New Castle County, Middletown
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 39.578, -75.639 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Funnel Cloud, New Castle

When: July 14, 3:20 PM EST to 3:22 PM EST
Where: New Castle County, 1 mi E of Deleware City
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 39.578, -75.639 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.
Funnel Cloud: A rotating column of cloud extending from a thunderstorm that did not reach the ground.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Delaware in 2004 Every state in 2004 This day in weather history Warnings in Delaware, July 2004

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: 5422362, 5422363, 5422364.