Second of 3 nor'easters hammers northern Delaware

Wednesday's snowstorm spared most of Delaware, and even the parts that experienced periods of heavy snow did not see accumulations like across the border in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, except in a few areas.

Wednesday's storm came as some were still recovering from Friday's nor'easter. And as folks up north dig out of this storm, another nor'easter is on the horizon for Monday. 

"In one of our computer model guides, it shows we will have a coastal storm this Sunday leading into Monday," a NWS meteorologist said. 

The intense heavy, wet snowfall stopped before 3:30 p.m. in New Castle County, the National Weather Service said. The heavy flakes that covered the landscape most of the day even gave way to some sunshine before nightfall.

At 5 p.m., after the back end of the storm had passed through the state, the Delaware Environmental Observing System reported snow totals of 10.4 inches in Greenville, 7.6 inches at its White Clay Creek station, down to 0.8 inches in Dover.

Kent County saw some snowfall, Dover police reported a wintry mix of rain and snow between noon and 2 p.m., but it has since returned back to rain. 

"There were a handful of accidents at the worst of it, but now the roads are mostly wet and slick. Rain has melted most of the snow," Mark Hoffman, a Dover police spokesman said. 

Between 11:30 p.m. Tuesday and 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, state police reported 64 car crashes, four with injuries and 69 disabled vehicles in New Castle County.

Ten tractor-trailers crashed and jackknifed on the Delaware Memorial Bridge at the height of the snowfall. The trucks crumpled behind one another on the up-slope of the bridge heading to New Jersey. 

All four lanes of the New Jersey-bound span were closed for over two hours, said James Salmon, the Delaware River and Bay Authority spokesman. 

Salmon said he was unsure how the wreck transpired, but it happened around 1 p.m. and backed up traffic heavily. 

In Kent during that time, state police reported 50 crashes, five with injuries and 22 disabled vehicles. Sussex had no weather-related incidents.

Roadway closures and wrecks:

• U.S. 301 between Marl Pit Road and Old School House Road in Middletown was closed in both directions around 6 a.m., but that crash has since been cleared. An SUV struck a tractor-trailer, and there is a fuel leak being cleaned up. 
• There was a multi-vehicle accident around 8:30 a.m. on Del. 1 northbound at Exit 136 in Middletown, according to DelDOT. Emergency units were on the scene. 
• A crash on southbound I-95 blocked the left lanes just after the Basin Road exit around 9 a.m.
• Two snowplows were involved in a crash at Del. 7 and Del. 71. No injuries were reported.
• Del. 1 southbound south of Dewey Beach is closed due to flooding. 

Gov. John Carney declared a Level 1 driving restriction at 2 p.m. that lasted until just before 5  p.m. Level 1 means drivers should use extra caution driving and encouraged not to drive at all unless necessary. 

The city of Wilmington said they would have more trouble than normal cleaning the roads Wednesday evening.

"Because the storm started as rain, we could not place brine on the streets because it would have washed away,” said a city official. “The lack of pre-treatment of streets makes clean-up more complicated, especially with heavy snow.” 

On Tuesday, Delmarva Power had just wrapped up restoring electricity to customers after Friday's storm, according to spokesman Nick Morici. 

Wednesday's storm caused nearly another 1,000 outages, many of which were being fixed by nightfall, Morici said.

Additional outages are expected overnight as the weight of snow on trees leads to falling tree limbs, AccuWeather said. Drivers should also been alert for fallen debris and power lines. 

With common spring snowfall, the heavy, wet snow falls in clumps, rather than light, fluffy winter snow, said Sarah Johnson, with the National Weather Service. She said this snow could be ideal for some.

"This snow is better for building snowmen and making snow forts because it tends to stick better. This is definitely the time you would want to have snowball fights." 

The storm brought numerous closings. 

Wilmington, Newark and New Castle County offices and the New Castle County Courthouse closed at noon.

State legislative sessions were canceled, but offices at Legislative Hall remained open. 

Appoquinimink, Brandywine, Christina, Red Clay and Smryna districts canceled classes. As did First State Military Academy, Salesianum, EastSide Charter School, Freire Charter School, MOT Charter School, Newark Charter School, Caravel Academy, Odyssey Charter School, Providence Creek Academy and many other schools. 

The University of Delaware's main campus in Newark also closed at noon.

Wednesday night’s DIAA Girls Basketball Tournament semifinals at the Carpenter Center have been postponed by the inclement weather. They will be made up Friday night with the girls' finals now moved to Monday at 7 p.m. 

New Castle County libraries, Police Athletic League of Delaware and county recreation centers, Rockwood Mansion, Carousel Park programs and senior centers and a number of community events were canceled. 

More than 2,500 flights were canceled in the United States. Newark Liberty International Airport saw over 50 percent of the airport's flights canceled Wednesday, according to flight tracker FlightAware.

Contact Adam Duvernay at aduvernay@delawareonline.com or (302) 319-1855. Contact Josephine Peterson at (302) 324-2856 or jhpeterson@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter at @jopeterson93.

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