Snowy nor’easter slams Delaware

In Sussex County, including the beach towns, 6 to 8 inches of snow fell, with higher amounts recorded in the western and southern parts of the county.

Overnight snowfall that began Sunday, March 1, whipped on shore, creating limited visibility and closing all of the state’s 19 school districts, county offices and state offices.

A low-pressure system off the Atlantic Ocean spurred the storm that stretched from South Carolina to New Hampshire.

“You could call it a nor’easter. A classic nor’easter usually forms along the Carolina coast, and this storm joined a stationary front causing all the snow,” said Joe Miketta, a meterologist at the National Weather Service Mount Holly, N.J. office.

The most severe snowfall was over by midday Monday, as the low-pressure system moved off the coast of Long Island, N.Y., Miketta said. Residents can expect very cold weather to follow in the storm’s wake, he said.

“The heaviest snow has moved out, but another band of snow is over eastern Virginia moving toward the Northeast. It’s going to be cold. It’ll be dipping into the 20s and windy. Any snow that is on the ground will be blowing around,” Miketta said.

In Kent County, Houston received 9 inches and in Dover about 5 inches was recorded.
In New Castle County, about 6 inches accumulated in Wilmington before the storm moved out.

Drifting snow banks made plowing difficult in the Cape Region, said Jim Westhoff, spokesman for the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT). Crews first plowed the primary roads, Route 1 and Route 113, but the mounding snow made reaching secondary and rural roads in Sussex County impossible.

“As of right now, we’re not doing any work on any secondary roads. We’re focused on primary roads right now until the snow stops – we’re trying to keep them passable,” Westhoff said. “Down in Sussex County right now, it’s very windy. Our crews are fighting drifting. When they plow a road they often have to turn around and do it again.”

Westhoff said 337 vehicles equipped with plows, including trucks and tractors, were dispatched to salt roads as early as 7 a.m. on Sunday. About 500 state workers were called to duty, he said.

“Looks like we’ll be out all night, but severe drifting remains a problem in Sussex County. We can’t even hazard a guess when we’ll get to secondary roads,” he said.

Westhoff said some stoplights were broken, causing a few traffic problems, but since most residents stayed inside, there were few reports of serious injuries. A reader called to complain that 59 mailboxes were knocked down by a DelDOT truck plowing Route 9. At press time, DelDOT had not received any complaints, Westhoff said.

State police spokesman Sgt. Josh Bushweller said from 6 p.m., March 1, to 1:45 p.m., March 2, there were 99 vehicle crashes in Sussex County, three with minor injuries, and 60 reports of disabled vehicles.

“We’ve had a significant number of vehicles disabled,” Bushweller said.

The National Weather Service reported a record-high 71 degrees in Georgetown in mid-February, just two weeks ago. Temperatures are expected to rise to 50 degrees by Friday, March 6.