Heavy Snow and High Wind in Delaware, March 31, 1997

A late season snowstorm dropped some of the heaviest snow of all winter in northwestern parts of New Castle County from the afternoon on March 31st into the morning of April 1st. The low pressure system responsible for this looked rather innocuous on March 30th as it moved with its associated cold front through the Midwest. Temperatures that day (Easter Sunday) warmed into the 70s across most of Delaware. But as the low intensified off the New Jersey Coast on March 31st, it pulled down colder air. The heavy precipitation it created also cooled the atmosphere and changed the rain over to snow at times of heavier precipitation bursts in the northern half of the state from the afternoon of March 31st into the early morning of April 1st. These bands of heavier snow moved through the Middle Atlantic States and caused wide variations in accumulations that were both location (underneath these bands) and elevation dependent. One such band affected the northwest part of New Castle County where accumulations exceeded five inches. Less snow (3 to 4 inches on average) accumulated farther southeast including the city of Wilmington. Strong northwest winds on both March 31st and April 1st caused some blowing and drifting of the snow in northwest New Castle County. In addition, the weight of the heavy, wet snow tore down tree limbs and produced scattered power outages. Very little snow accumulated farther south in Delaware, but gusty northwest winds that circulated around the low pressure system buffeted the state for two days. The peak wind gust at the New Castle County Airport was 43 mph, but stronger gusts occurred farther south. A wind gust of 58 mph was recorded by the Cape May/Lewes Ferry. The strong winds also pulled down power lines and caused scattered outages in Sussex County and isolated outages in Kent County. The very strong winds also forced the Cape May/Lewes Ferry to reduce their number of trips across Delaware Bay.