Winter Storm — New Castle, Delaware

2010-02-09 to 2010-02-10 · New Castle, Delaware

Wider weather episode

For the second time within a week a major winter storm, this one with blizzard conditions at times, affected the state of Delaware. Blizzard conditions occurred at times during the afternoon and early evening of the 10th. Accumulations averaged around one foot with the highest amounts in New Castle County. Ice accretions were less than one quarter of an inch. Two storm related deaths occurred.

In the southern half of the state, precipitation started briefly as rain or sleet around 6 p.m. EST on the 9th. As the precipitation intensity increased, the rain and sleet changed to snow by the middle of the evening. As warmer air moved in aloft, the snow changed back to sleet and freezing rain during the second half of the evening. Surface temperatures responded more slowly and the sleet and freezing rain changed over to rain during the early morning (before sunrise) of the 10th. Some sleet mixed in from time to time. As the low pressure system moved northeast of the state, the rain changed back to snow around 9 a.m. EST on the 10th and fell heavy at times from the late morning into the afternoon. Winds also increased and blizzard conditions occurred during the afternoon and early evening of the 10th. The snow ended late in the evening on the 10th. In the northern half of the state, precipitation started as snow during the early evening of the 9th and fell heavy at times. As warmer air moved in aloft there too, the snow changed over to sleet and freezing rain just after midnight EST on the 10th. Some surface temperatures rose above freezing and the precipitation fell as plain rain into the middle of the morning (around 9 a.m. EST) when it changed back to snow and fell heavy at times into the afternoon. Blizzard conditions developed during the afternoon of the 10th. The snow ended late in the evening on the 10th.

Governor Jack Markell declared a state of emergency in Delaware for the 10th with a total travel ban except for emergency and essential personnel. The ban on travel extended into the morning of the 11th. Drifts in Kent and Sussex Counties reached twelve feet. In spite of the travel ban, around 75 accidents (4 injuries) occurred and around 275 vehicles were abandoned or disabled with the greatest concentration in Sussex County. About 600 National Guard personnel were involved in rescuing stranded motorists and shuttling people who lost power to shelters. Many city, federal, social and county offices as well as courthouses were closed on the 10th and 11th. Municipal meetings were canceled as were sports games and racing cards. Schools were closed on the 10th and 11th, some even on the 12th. Businesses were closed. Both winter storms took their toll on the state economy. Because the heavy snow clung to the trees first and then the winds increased, about 30,000 homes and businesses lost power. There was considerable pine tree damage. Shelters were opened in New Castle, Milford, Seaford and Georgetown. Delaware Electric Cooperative had to suspend restoration efforts during the afternoon of the 10th in Kent and Sussex Counties because of poor visibilities. Many school districts ran out of snow days and municipal snow removal budgets were exceeded. Trash collections were postponed. The combination of the two heavy snow events within a week started causing roof collapses within the state. In addition, about 50 chicken houses collapsed on the Delmarva Peninsula.

In New Castle County in Wilmington, a 33-year-old man was found dead while shoveling the snow. In Newark, a downed tree destroyed a traffic signal. About 15,000 homes and businesses lost power. Several building collapses occurred because of the weight of the snow within the county. A roof collapse at the C Line Center for Therapeutic and Educational Riding in Townsend was expected to take six months to fix the building. The Townsend Fire Company also suffered a roof collapse. A roof collapse occurred within the Ogletown Business Park and the facade roof of a Middletown restaurant fell.

In Sussex County, an eighty-year-old man was found buried in the snow in Lewes. It was too windy to plow roads between 2 p.m. and 9 p.m. EST on the 10th as whiteout conditions were reported. Three mobile homes collapsed in Lewes. The roof over the cafeteria and auditorium of a school in Seaford collapsed. The roofs of a Big Lots in Milford and a commercial building in Rehoboth Beach also collapsed. In Kent County three barns west of Kenton collapsed and farm equipment was damaged.

Representative snowfall included 13.0 inches in Smyrna (Kent County), 12.8 inches at the New Castle County Airport, 12.2 inches in Newark (New Castle County), 11.0 inches in Woodside (Kent County), 10.5 inches in Bridgeville (Sussex County), 9.3 inches in Dover (Kent County), 9.2 inches in Lewes Sussex County) and 8.0 inches in Long Neck (Sussex County). Peak wind gusts included 51 mph in Lewes (Sussex County), 46 mph in Dover (Kent County) and the New Castle County Airport and 39 mph in Georgetown (Sussex County). The onshore flow preceding it helped cause minor tidal flooding with the morning high tide on the 10th in Sussex County. The high tide at Lewes reached 6.02 feet above mean lower low water. Minor tidal flooding starts at 6.0 feet above mean lower low water.

Only 10 days into February and the 40.9 inches of snow that already fallen within the month at the New Castle County Airport established a new snowfall record for February. The seasonal total of 66.7 inches of snow to date already made it the snowiest season on record surpassing the previous record of 55.9 inches set in 1995-6.

The low pressure system responsible for the latest winter storm and blizzard emerged from the Big Bend of Texas on the morning of the 8th. It moved northeast and reached the Tennessee Valley on the morning of the 9th. At 7 p.m. EST on the 9th, it was located near Charleston, South Carolina. It then moved northnortheast and was near Norfolk, Virginia at 1 a.m. EST on the 10th, Georgetown, Delaware at 7 a.m. EST on the 10th, Atlantic City, New Jersey at 10 a.m. EST on the 10th and just east of Seaside Heights, New Jersey at 4 p.m. EST on the 10th. The low pressure system then drifted slowly east the rest of the afternoon into the overnight of the 10th. The pass of the low pressure system into the state permitted warmer air aloft and at the surface to make it into Delaware during the late evening of the 9th and the first half of the day on the 10th, before the heavier snow and then blizzard conditions occurred.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 212787. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.