Winter Weather — New Castle, Delaware

2013-02-01 · New Castle, Delaware

Wider weather episode

A low pressure system that formed along a secondary cold front helped drop two to six inches of snow across the southern half of New Castle County, Kent County and the northern half of Sussex County during the morning of the 1st. The heaviest snowfall was right around Dover. The snow fell at its heaviest during the morning commute and caused over 150 accidents with at least a dozen that caused injuries.

The snow began falling across the state between 530 a.m. EST and 630 a.m. EST on the 1st. It fell at its heaviest between 7 a.m. EST and 9 a.m. EST and ended between 10 a.m. EST and 1130 a.m. EST that morning. Delaware State Police reported around 60 accidents (5 with injuries) in Kent County, nearly 100 accidents (10 with injuries) in New Castle County and 4 accidents (1 with injuries) in Sussex County. There were also about a dozen disabled vehicles. In New Castle County, the Summit Bridge (U.S. Route 301) was closed until it could be salted. In Tybouts, Northbound U.S. Route 13 was closed. In Kent County, blowing snow complicated roadway plowing along Delaware State Route 1 around Dover.

Representative snowfall included 5.9 inches in Dover (Kent County), 3.2 inches in Magnolia (Kent County), 3.0 inches in Harrington (Kent County) and Blackbird (New Castle County), 2.7 inches in Viola (Kent County), 2.2 inches in Milton (Sussex County), 2.0 inches in Lewes (Sussex County), 1.8 inches in Odessa (New Castle County), 1.4 inches in Glasgow (New Castle County), 1.3 inches in Seaford (Sussex County) and 0.5 inches in Bridgeville (Sussex County).

The snow was caused by a compact and quick moving low pressure system that formed along the northern edge of a secondary cold front. The low pressure system moved from Lake Erie during the early evening of January 31st eastsoutheast and passed across the northern part of the state around 7 a.m. EST on February 1st and exited just as quickly offshore.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 433119. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.