Winter Weather — Inland Sussex, Delaware

2007-02-25 · Inland Sussex, Delaware

Wider weather episode

A winter storm that featured mixed precipitation affected Delaware on the 25th. Snowfall accumulations averaged 2 to 4 inches in Kent and New Castle Counties and less than two inches in Sussex County. Ice accretions averaged a tenth of an inch or less in Kent and Sussex Counties and up to around one quarter of an inch in New Castle County. Snow began falling around Noon EST. The snow fell heavy at times later that afternoon, particularly in Kent County. Enough warm air came in aloft for precipitation to change to sleet and freezing rain late in the afternoon in Kent and Sussex Counties and in the early evening in New Castle County. Precipitation then changed to plain rain during by the early evening in Sussex County, mid evening in Kent County and close to Midnight EST on the 26th in New Castle County. The rain ended between Midnight EST and 3 a.m. EST on the 26th.

Untreated roads and walkways were hazardous. The snow did accumulate on road surfaces as the weather had remained unseasonably cold. Between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. EST on the 25th, about 180 accidents were reported in the state (half of them in New Castle County). About two dozen injuries were reported from the accidents. One of the worst injuries was a 43-year-old bicyclist that was struck by a vehicle while trying to cross the southbound lanes of Delaware State Route 1. An elderly couple (a 79-year-old male and 92-year-old female) was found dead in their home from hypothermia. The batteries in their thermostat were placed in backwards.

Snowfall accumulations included 3.0 inches in Smyrna (Kent County), 2.6 inches in Dover (Kent County), 2.4 inches in Glasgow (New Castle County) and at the New Castle County Airport, 2.0 inches in Yorklyn (New Castle County), 1.3 inches in Lincoln (Sussex County) and 0.8 inches in Bethany Beach (Sussex County).

The low pressure system that caused the winter storm moved northeast from the foothills of the central Rockies on the morning of the 24th. At 7 p.m. EST on the 24th it reached Kansas City, Kansas City and then northeastern Iowa at 7 a.m. EST on the 25th. A secondary low pressure system started forming on the primary low's warm front in South Carolina during the early afternoon of the 25th. At 7 p.m. EST the secondary low was near Raleigh, North Carolina, while the primary low pressure system was weakening near Chicago, Illinois. At 1 a.m. EST on the 26th, the secondary low pressure system was just east of the Delaware coast and at 7 a.m. EST that morning was already well southeast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. While warm air continued to move in aloft because of the circulation associated with the primary low pressure system, the formation and deepening of the secondary low pressure system slowed the advancement of warmer air near the surface and prolonged the duration of sleet and freezing rain well inland.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 14666. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.