Heavy Snow in Delaware, March 14, 1999

A coastal low pressure system caused heavy snow and rain to fall across New Castle County from around noon on the 14th into the early morning of the 15th. The rain/snow line meandered in the county for most of the 14th. When precipitation became heavier, the rain/snow line dipped south toward Kent County. When precipitation became lighter, the snow changed to rain and the rain/snow line approached the Pennsylvania border. This is not unusual for a late winter snow where precipitation intensity sometimes dictates the type of precipitation that falls. For example at the New Castle County Airport, snow began around 1120 a.m. EST, it changed to rain about 1210 p.m. EST, went back to snow at 1240 p.m. EST, changed again to rain at 515 p.m. EST, changed back to snow again around 615 p.m. EST and finally changed over to rain for good around 1015 p.m. EST. A second shot of light snow and flurries caused little if any additional accumulations during the morning of the 15th. The heaviest accumulations of around 5 inches occurred in the northwestern part of the county. Accumulations near Wilmington were around 2 inches and accumulations south of the canal were generally an inch or less. No serious accidents were reported. The low pressure system developed along the Gulf Coast States the morning of the 13th. During the morning of the 14th it had moved into Alabama and was located just east of the Delmarva Peninsula around daybreak of the 15th. The storm intensified and moved rapidly offshore on the 15th and reached Nova Scotia the morning of the 16th.