Heavy Snow — New Castle, Delaware

2000-01-20 · New Castle, Delaware

Wider weather episode

A pair of low pressure systems, one that moved from the Northern Plains into western Pennsylvania before dissipating and a second one that developed near Wilmington, North Carolina the morning of the 20th produced a steady, heavy snow across most of Delaware. This was the first widespread accumulating snow of the winter season. The low intensified, but moved offshore relatively quickly. This prevented substantial accumulations from occurring. Enough warm air arrived at the coast to have precipitation fall as a snow and rain mixture. Accumulations along the shore were around an inch. Precipitation began between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. EST on the 20th and fell at a steady rate throughout the day. The precipitation ended by midnight. Aside from the shore, accumulations across the state averaged between 3 and 6 inches. The snow caused many orthopedic injuries (fractured ankles and wrists) from nasty spills. Over a dozen people were also injured from sledding accidents. About two dozen traffic accidents were reported. Schools were closed on Thursday (the 20th) in Kent and Sussex Counties. The heavy snow forced the postponement of Governor Tom Carper's State of the State Address. It was estimated the clean-up from this storm cost the state about 1.1 million dollars. Accumulations included 6 inches in Wyoming (Kent County), 5.5 inches in Dover (Kent County) and Harbeson (Sussex County), 5.0 inches in Hockessin (New Castle County), Laurel (Sussex County) and Delmar (Sussex County), 4.5 inches in Camden (Kent County) and Newark (New Castle County) and 2.7 inches at the New Castle County Airport.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5130311. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.