LOCAL

September weather: Delaware's hottest, coldest, wettest and driest since 1895

Maddy Lauria
The News Journal

This year has been a roller coaster of rain and heat, making for a soggy end to a scorching summer season.

There are still a few days left in September and fall officially started Saturday, but it looks like the First State has seen far worse when it comes to breaking weather records.

Preliminary data from the University of Delaware’s Delaware Environmental Observing System show the first three weeks of September have been a little warmer than the normal 68-degree average for the month. The hottest recorded temperature so far this month (as of Sept. 20) was 94 degrees in Wilmington on Sept. 6.

Cars wade through the deep water on Del. 9 Monday evening as rain collects near the Delaware Refinery in Delaware City.

As for rainfall, that depends on what part of the state you look at. One of DEOS’ Wilmington-area sites could find its way to the Top 10 wettest Septembers on record if more rain falls in the area.

From Sept. 1 to Sept. 20, that part of the state saw more than 7.5 inches of rain, nearly double the total recorded in Dover and much more than the average 3.6 inches of rainfall usually seen this time of year.

Delaware State Climatologist Daniel Leathers compiled the Top 5 hottest and coldest days ever experienced in September in Delaware, as well as the years that saw the most – and the least – amount of average statewide rainfall since record keeping began in 1895.

Top 5 hottest

  1. Sept. 6, 1912: 102 degrees in Millsboro
  2. Sept. 11, 1983: 100 degrees at multiple monitoring stations: the Wilmington New Castle County Airport, Wilmington area, near Newark, Middletown and Bridgeville
  3. Sept. 1, 1953: 100 degrees in Delaware City at Reedy Point
  4. Sept. 22, 1895: 99 degrees at Wilmington City Hall
  5. Sept. 2, 1980: 99 degrees in Milford

Top 5 coldest

  1. Sept. 28, 1914: 30 degrees in Bridgeville
  2. Sept. 8, 1924: 30 degrees in Dover
  3. Sept. 27, 1947: 31 degrees near Newark 
  4. Sept. 21, 1956: 32 degrees in Georgetown
  5. Sept. 25, 2006: 32 degrees in Prime Hook

Top 5 wettest 

  1. September 1935: 11.59 inches 
  2. September 1999: 10.37 inches 
  3. September 2016: 9.98 inches 
  4. September 1960: 8.27 inches 
  5. September 1938: 7.85 inches 

Top 5 driest

  1. September 1941: 0.18 inches 
  2. September 2005: 0.59 inches
  3. September 1925: 0.94 inches
  4. September 1914: 0.98 inches 
  5. September 1970: 1.02 inches

 

Contact reporter Maddy Lauria at (302) 345-0608, mlauria@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @MaddyinMilford.

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