Yesterday brought record warmth across Delaware. While the record high for the state for March 9th wasn’t broken (82 °F set in 2000 in Milford), it did set a record at the Wilmington New Castle County Airport which saw a high of 81 °F.
The previous record for March 9th at the airport was 74 °F set in 1964 and tied in 2000 and the normal high temperature for this date is 50 °F.
Today’s high temperature could again approach 80 °F at the Wilmington New Castle County Airport. If the Airport reaches 80 degrees again, it would be the earliest consecutive 80 degree days in a calendar year in the period of record for that station or for Wilmington in general, which has weather records going back as far as 1895.
For the state as a whole, Georgetown Sussex County Regional Airport experienced the earliest consecutive 80 degree days in a calendar year with 3 consecutive 80 degree days from March 8th through 10th in 2000. Although December was extremely warm for Delaware, and by far the warmest December on record, January and February saw temperatures above, but much closer to normal. With temperatures forecast to remain quite mild for the next week or so, we could be setting up for another above normal month and certainly a warm start to spring and the growing season.