Winter Storm — New Castle, Delaware

2009-01-27 to 2009-01-28 · New Castle, Delaware

Wider weather episode

A frontal boundary was draped from the southern Mid Atlantic region southwestward to the northern Gulf of Mexico. An area of low pressure developed along this front across the lower Mississippi Valley late in the day on the 27th. The storm system then moved northeastward and tracked near the Ohio River Valley during the morning of the 28th. As the storm continued to track northeastward, it strengthened as it moved into New England during the early evening hours of the 28th. An associated cold front then swept across the Mid Atlantic region during the early evening hours of the 28th.

A cold air mass ahead of the system allowed for snow to overspread the area generally from south to north during the early morning of the 27th. As milder air then worked in especially above the surface, the snow changed to sleet and freezing rain before going over to plain rain during the night of the 27th. The freezing rain and sleet however held on longer across the northern part of the state during the morning of the 28th. The combination of the frozen and freezing precipitation created a high impact event and produced very slippery conditions on the roadways throughout Delaware. State Police reported that even the main roads turned very slippery during the height of the storm, especially once the snow mixed with sleet then changed to freezing rain. The Delaware Department of Transportation (DELDOT) was reported to get a good portion of the roads cleared during the early morning hours of the 28th. Kent County, especially from Dover on northward and also across New Castle County, State Police reported that the roads remained rather icy the longest. Numerous accidents were reported across the state with several injuries. State and County Officials advised people to stay off the roads if at all possible, especially in Kent and New Castle Counties. A power outage was reported in the Claymont area (New Castle County) around 12:15 PM EST on the 28th due to a blown Amtrak transformer. No details were available on what caused the transformer to blow.

Governor Jack Markell declared a two-hour delay on the opening of state government offices on the 28th in New Castle and Kent Counties to allow more time for roads to be cleared. Statewide, the state police reported 123 traffic accidents between 10:00 AM EST on the 27th and 10:00 AM EST on the 28th. The bulk of the crashes occurred in New Castle County where there were 62 reported, 5 of which involved injuries. Administrators closed schools on the 28th in the Smyrna School District and Providence Creek Academy in Clayton (Kent County) because of the wintry weather.

As some milder air moved northward over the snow and ice on the 28th, dense fog developed and contributed to an accident near Felton (Kent County) during the afternoon. A state police officer's cruiser was struck while at a stop sign at Canterbury and Midstate roads. Dense fog prevented another vehicle from seeing the police cruiser, which rear-ended the police officer's car. The collision had pushed the police cruiser into the intersection. After the officer got out too check on things, another vehicle smashed into the police cruiser because the driver did not see it due to the poor visibility. The impact destroyed the police cruiser. The driver of the second car was injured.

Some total snowfall reports included; 1.8 inches at both the New Castle County Airport in Wilmington and in Bear (New Castle County) and 1.0 in in Greenwood (Sussex County). Some ice accumulation totals included; 0.25 of an inch at both the New Castle County Airport in Wilmington and in Bear (New Castle County).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 152046. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.