A Week in Review: A Snowy & Record Cold Week for Delmarva

Bitter, Bone-chilling, and frigid…many of the adjectives used to describe last week. The middle of February has been tough on Delmarva. It was full of snow, record cold, school delays and closures, snow squalls, and windy conditions. The coldest air since 1979 impacted the region the week of February 15th through the 21st.

The week started out on the cold side with highs in the 20s as an arctic air mass pushed east. A couple days later on Tuesday the 17th, a snowstorm swept into the area and dumped anywhere from 4-10 inches of snow across Delmarva. Another arctic blast pushed in behind the storm and brought the coldest air we’ve seen in over 30 years. Records were shattered in Salisbury both Friday and Saturday with below zero temperatures. Friday also recorded the coldest high temperature ever recorded for that date. A new record of 19 degrees was set. Georgetown also fell below zero and broke records. The gusty and blustery winds also caused dangerous wind chills between -5 and -20 degrees. This caused schools to close their doors on Friday the 20th.

The weekend warmed up a little with a rain and snow mix that turned to all rain, which eventually helped melt some of the snow. Temperatures finally went above freezing on Saturday. Salisbury ended up recording 67 consecutive hours of sub-freezing temperatures last week.