Coastal Flood in Delaware, January 4, 2006

Name: Coastal Flood in Delaware, January 4, 2006
Start: 2006-01-04T14:00
End: 2006-01-04T16:00
Location: Delaware

January 4, 2006 · NWS PHI · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

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: 2

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.

The combination of a high pressure system over Canada and a low pressure system that exited the Delaware coast on the 3rd and runoff from the heavy rain produced some minor tidal flooding during the daytime high tide on the 4th in Upper Delaware Bay and along the Delaware River as well as along tidal sections of its tributaries. The high tide at Reedy Island (New Castle County) reached 7.29 feet above mean lower low water. Minor tidal flooding begins at 7.2 feet above mean lower low water. The tidal flooding was caused by the east to northeast flow between a low pressure system that moved west to east across the central part of the United States and a high pressure system that skirted across southeastern Canada. The low pressure system moved from northeastern Missouri around sunrise on the 2nd into Indiana during the evening of the 2nd and Ohio around daybreak on the 3rd. A secondary low pressure system formed along its warm frontal boundary on the Delmarva Peninsula early in the morning on the 3rd and moved east fairly rapidly. By 7 p.m. EST on the 3rd it was already about 400 miles east of Atlantic City. While the low pressure system moved well offshore by the morning of the 4th, the high pressure system built south into northern New England. This maintained a weaker, (but still) up the bay flow and helped cause pockets of minor tidal flooding with the daytime high tide cycle.

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 Jan 4, 10:00 AM EST, 4 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 4, 10:00 AM EST, 4 hours before

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Hazardous weather outlook, Jan 4, 4:24 AM EST, 9 hours 36 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
424 AM EST WED JAN 4 2006

ANZ430-431-450>455-DEZ001>004-MDZ008-012-015-019-020-NJZ001-
007>010-012>027-PAZ054-055-060>062-067>071-050930-
DELAWARE BAY WATERS NORTH OF EAST POINT NJ TO SLAUGHTER BEACH DE-
DELAWARE BAY WATERS SOUTH OF EAST POINT NJ TO SLAUGHTER BEACH DE-
COASTAL WATERS FROM SANDY HOOK TO MANASQUAN INLET NJ OUT 20 NM-
COASTAL WATERS FROM MANASQUAN INLET TO LITTLE EGG INLET NJ OUT
20 NM-
COASTAL WATERS FROM LITTLE EGG INLET TO GREAT EGG INLET NJ OUT
20 NM-
COASTAL WATERS FROM GREAT EGG INLET TO CAPE MAY NJ OUT 20 NM-
COASTAL WATERS FROM CAPE MAY NJ TO CAPE HENLOPEN DE OUT 20 NM-
COASTAL WATERS FROM CAPE HENLOPEN TO FENWICK ISLAND DE OUT 20 NM-
NEW CASTLE-KENT DE-INLAND SUSSEX-DELAWARE BEACHES-CECIL-KENT MD-
QUEEN ANNES-TALBOT-CAROLINE-SUSSEX-WARREN-MORRIS-HUNTERDON-
SOMERSET-MIDDLESEX-WESTERN MONMOUTH-EASTERN MONMOUTH-MERCER-SALEM-
GLOUCESTER-CAMDEN-NORTHWESTERN BURLINGTON-OCEAN-CUMBERLAND-
ATLANTIC-CAPE MAY-ATLANTIC COASTAL CAPE MAY-COASTAL ATLANTIC-
COASTAL OCEAN-SOUTHEASTERN BURLINGTON-CARBON-MONROE-BERKS-LEHIGH-
NORTHAMPTON-CHESTER-MONTGOMERY-BUCKS-DELAWARE-PHILADELPHIA-
424 AM EST WED JAN 4 2006

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN
PENNSYLVANIA, DELAWARE, THE NORTHERN MARYLAND EASTERN SHORE AND
NEW JERSEY, EXCLUDING THE FIVE NORTHEAST COUNTIES.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

MINOR TIDAL FLOODING IS POSSIBLE THIS MORNING ALONG THE NEW
JERSEY SHORE AND THE BACK BAYS. SOME LIGHT FREEZING RAIN IS
POSSIBLE TONIGHT AT HIGHER ELEVATIONS IN THE POCONOS AND
NORTHWEST NEW JERSEY. OTHERWISE...NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED
AT THIS TIME.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED.

AMC

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 coastal flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Coastal Flood, Kent

When: January 4, 2:00 PM EST to 4:00 PM EST
Where: Kent forecast zone
Reported by: COASTAL OBSERVING STATION
Coordinates: 39.096, -75.505 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Coastal Flood, New Castle

When: January 4, 2:00 PM EST to 4:00 PM EST
Where: New Castle forecast zone
Reported by: COASTAL OBSERVING STATION
Coordinates: 39.578, -75.639 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Coastal Flood: Flooding of coastal land by the sea, from storm surge, onshore wind or high tides.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Delaware in 2006 Every state in 2006 This day in weather history Warnings in Delaware, January 2006

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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5486751, 5486752.