Winter Weather — Kent, Delaware

2015-02-09 to 2015-02-10 · Kent, Delaware

Wider weather episode

A protracted in time freezing rain event along with some sleet caused traveling difficulties and accidents in Delaware from the late afternoon on the 9th through the morning of the 10th. While precipitation occurred intermittently and amounts were light, untreated roadways were treacherous and accidents occurred. Ice accumulations averaged around one tenth of an inch and any sleet accumulations were minimal.

Freezing rain spread from north to south across the state during the late afternoon and evening on the 9th. Sleet mixed in from time to time. In New Castle County, it changed briefly to snow before ending on the 10th. The precipitation ended from north to south between 3 a.m. EST and 10 a.m. EST on the 10th. Delaware State Police responded to nearly 100 accidents, 11 with injuries as well as 5 disabled vehicles. More than two-thirds of the accidents occurred in Kent County. In Sussex County, the South Rehoboth Boulevard/Coastal Highway was closed because of a jack-knifed tractor trailer. Representative ice accumulations included 0.20 inches in Frankford (Sussex County), 0.06 inches in Milton (Sussex County) and around 0.05 inches at the New Castle County Airport.

The wintry mix of precipitation was caused by the combination of waves of low pressure on a frontal boundary that supplied the moisture and precipitation and an arctic high pressure system to the north of the boundary that supplied the low level cold air. As this boundary sagged southward, the precipitation sagged southward with it. At 7 a.m. EST on the 8th, the high pressure system was centered over James Bay and the frontal boundary across the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania. By 7 p.m. EST on the 8th, the frontal boundary moved into New Castle County. By 10 p.m. EST on the 8th, the frontal boundary cleared all of Delaware. At 7 a.m. EST on the 9th, the frontal boundary was located over the lower Delmarva Peninsula with a wave of low pressure forming along it. At 7 p.m. EST on the 9th, the frontal boundary was approaching Cape Hatteras, North Carolina and at 7 a.m. EST on the 10th dropped into northern Florida. At 10 a.m. EST on the 10th, the boundary just passed through Miami, Florida and by then, waves of low pressure were finally too far offshore to affect Delaware.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 558171. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.