Heavy Snow and Strong Wind in Maryland, March 31, 1997

A late season snowstorm dropped some of the heaviest snow of all winter in northwestern parts of Cecil 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 the Maryland Eastern Shore. But as the low intensified off the New Jersey Coast on the 31st, it pulled down colder air. The heavy precipitation it created also cooled the atmosphere and changed the rain over to snow during heavier bursts of precipitation from the afternoon of March 31st into the early morning of April 1st. 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 Cecil County where accumulations exceeded six inches. Less snow accumulated farther southeast. Strong northwest winds on both March 31st and April 1st caused some blowing and drifting of the snow. In addition, the weight of the heavy, wet snow tore down tree limbs and produced scattered power outages. Very little snow accumulated farther south along the Maryland Eastern Shore, but gusty northwest winds circulated around the low pressure system and buffeted the Eastern Shore with peak wind gusts of around 45 mph from March 31st through April 1st.