Strong Wind — Inland Sussex, Delaware

2004-12-01 · Inland Sussex, Delaware

Wider weather episode

The combination of a rapidly intensifying low pressure system and a strong cold frontal passage produced peak wind gusts of around 50 mph across Delaware during the second half of the morning and throughout most of the afternoon. Winds increased from the southwest preceding the cold front after 9 a.m. EST, but reached their peak speeds from the time of the cold frontal passage (between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. EST) into the first half of the afternoon. A 62-year-old woman was killed by a fallen tree in Sussex County. Numerous weaker trees and limbs and subsequently power lines were knocked down. The wind strew garbage and recycling pails around. The wind damage was exacerbated by the recent wet weather which made the ground soft and the prolonged duration of the stronger winds. Police reported 72 weather related calls for assistance.In Sussex County, in Indian River Hundred, along Delaware State Route 24, a 62-year-old woman passenger was killed and the 45-year-old driver was critically injured when a pine tree snapped, fell on their vehicle. The car then ran off the road and struck another tree. The driver suffered a broken neck and head injuries. The pine tree had a 42 inch circumference and snapped two feet above the ground. This was one of at least three accidents caused by fallen trees in the state. The other two reported accidents occurred in Brandywine Hundred (New Castle County). A 75-foot pine tree toppled and hit two vehicles at an intersection. Elsewhere in the hundred, another tree split and fell on a vehicle. It trapped the driver for about an hour. In both instances, no injuries were reported. The winds overturned eleven unmanned vessels in the Delaware River that were being used for the oil spill clean-up. A barge was also overturned near Wilmington. The three people on board were rescued. A tree fell on a house in Smyrna (Kent County) and the metal roof of a mobile home in Bridgeville (Sussex County) was sheared away. Conectiv Energy reported about 14,000 of its customers lost power in the state, mainly in New Castle County. Peak wind gusts (from the west) included 53 mph at the New Castle County Airport and in Salisbury (Wicomico County, Maryland), 49 mph in Dover (Kent County), 48 mph in Delaware City (New Castle County) and 44 mph in Georgetown (Sussex County). In Delaware Bay, a wind gust to 59 mph was recorded at the Brandywine Shoal Light. The winds were caused by the surface pressure difference (gradient) between a high pressure system building northeast from the Gulf Coast States and an intensifying low pressure system that moved northeast through the Saint Lawrence Valley on the 1st. The strongest winds aloft occurred during the daytime hours and this coincided with the maximum daytime heating. The turbulent mixing that normally occurs when these two conditions coincide, efficiently mixed the stronger winds to the ground.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5429511. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.