Winter storm has 'bullseye' on Tuesday morning commute
A winter storm expected to bring between 8 and 12 inches to northern Delaware will start Monday night and carry into Tuesday, bringing high winds and the threat of damaging coastal flooding.
Forecasters with The National Weather Service warn that Delaware's positioning on the southern edge of the storm makes snowfall totals hard to predict due to the quick drop-off on the storm's edge. But the uncertainty also means residents must be prepared Monday night, when snow could begin falling as early as the evening commute, said Chad Shafer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mount Holly.
The heaviest snow will fall overnight Monday into Tuesday morning's commute, Shafer said, bringing with it up to a foot of snow to New Castle County. Totals decrease moving downstate, with about 4 to 8 inches predicted for Dover and potentially no snow for the Georgetown area. Southern Delaware may see rain mixed with snow due to slightly warmer temperatures.
The predictions are "certainly far from a lock," Shafer said, stressing how unpredictable this storm has been to predict.
But the one thing forecasters know for sure is that Tuesday morning travel will be the problem spot.
"This storm really has a bullseye on the Tuesday morning commute," Shafer said, noting that the bulk of the storm will move through the area in the early morning hours. A winter storm watch issued for New Castle County was upgraded to a warning Sunday.
And though downstate residents may feel in the clear, Shafer said high winds and coastal flooding will accompany this winter storm, bringing gusts of up to 60 miles per hour along the shoreline.
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A high wind watch starting 2 a.m. Tuesday morning for Sussex County will last until the afternoon, Shafer said.
A coastal flood watch will also go into effect shortly after the winds begin and last through most of Tuesday, he said. Delaware Bay and beaches will be most impacted, Shafer added.
Despite raising eyebrows among residents, the storm doesn't come as a shock to meteorologists, who just began their spring season March 1. These transitional seasons often bring relatively strong systems, which can in turn, yield large amounts of precipitation, Shafer said.
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In this case, cold temperatures coupled with a warm air mass have resulted in what could be a lot of snow.
"It's a very strong storm," Shafer said, "But the time of year is not that atypical. We've seen March systems like this before."
Most of the storm's force will taper off by Tuesday night's drive home, though light snow could continue into Wednesday. This snow is not expected to accumulate or create any of the issues that may occur when the storm moves into the region Monday night.
Contact Brittany Horn at (302) 324-2771 or bhorn@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter at @brittanyhorn.
