Winter Weather in New Castle, Delaware

A mixture of snow, sleet and freezing rain fell across central and northern Delaware during the afternoon and evening of the 12th. This led to a very slippery commute home from school and work. Precipitation started intermittently as snow and sleet around Noon EST and became steadier during the middle and late afternoon. By then precipitation was falling as a mixture of rain, sleet and freezing rain in Kent County and snow and sleet in New Castle County. Precipitation changed to sleet and freezing rain by 6 p.m. EST in New Castle County and by then was rain and sleet in Kent County. Precipitation changed to all rain by 11 p.m. EST throughout the state. Snow and sleet accumulations were just trace amounts, but ice accretions reached around two-tenths of an inch in New Castle County.

There were numerous accidents, many which involved multiple vehicles; however no serious injuries were reported. State Police in New Castle County responded to 172 weather-related accidents from Noon EST to Midnight EST on the 12th. Of those accidents, there were five serious ones with four people taken to the hospital. There were other injuries related to the weather, which were slips and falls. The Delaware Memorial Bridge was closed during the evening commute so highway crews could salt it. The Dover Police responded to 14 weather-related traffic accidents which involved about ten property damage and four personal injury accidents.

The wintry mix was caused by a low pressure system that emerged from northern Texas late in the day on the 11th. The low pressure system moved northeast into the lower Ohio Valley on the morning of the 12th and reached into Ohio by the early evening on the 12th. A secondary low pressure system formed on its warm frontal boundary over Delmarva on the evening of the 12th. This low pressure system tracked northeast toward New York City before dissipating. But, this low pressure system brought in sufficient warm air from the nearby Atlantic Ocean to raise surface temperatures above freezing by late that evening. The cold surface air was supplied by a fresh high pressure system that moved across nearby Canada and the New England States on the 12th before it exited to the east later that night.