Winter Weather in Delaware, February 14, 1997

A high pressure system brought in a relatively cold and dry air mass into the Northeast on the 12th and 13th. Then a low pressure system travelled along the Eastern Seaboard and dropped a wintry mix of snow and freezing rain in Northern Delaware prior to dawn on the 14th. Precipitation started as snow across northern areas of Delaware the night of the 13th/morning of the 14th. South winds above the ground brought in relatively warmer air and changed the snow to freezing rain by 3 a.m. EST. East winds near the surface then brought in warmer air and helped change the freezing rain to just plain rain by 6 a.m. As is typically the case, the change to plain rain took the longest in the some of the hillier terrain of northwestern New Castle County. Little if any freezing or frozen precipitation fell farther south in Delaware. Driving on untreated roadways overnight was hazardous. Snowfall totals prior to the changeover were generally less than one inch. At the New Castle County Airport, the snowfall was 0.5 inches.The low pressure system responsible for the wintry mix developed over northern Mexico on the 12th. It moved along southern parts of the Gulf Coast States on the 13th before moving quickly up the Eastern Seaboard the night of the 13th through the night of the 14th. The low went from Savannah, Georgia at 7 p.m EST on the 13th to Portland, Maine at 7 p.m. EST on the 14th. The fast movement kept precipitation totals down. Conversely since it was a relatively weak low pressure system, the winds were light and this kept cold air trapped in some of the valleys in northwestern New Castle County and prolonged the changeover to plain rain.