SNOW HILL, MD — The third snowstorm of the year hit Delmarva Wednesday night, with the highest accumulation on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.
Parts of Worcester County, Maryland, also reported significant snow totals. Approximately 5.5 inches fell in Snow Hill.
Summer Bowden, who works at the Golden Clover Cafe in Snow Hill, commutes most days from Berlin. Bowden says she noticed a marked difference in conditions following this storm compared to this year's previous winter weather events.
"I was definitely a little anxious when I woke up because I wasn't sure what it was going to look like," Bowden said. "I was happy that it was just powder on my car."
Wednesday's snowfall was drier and lighter than other recent snow storms in the region. Bowden said this made cleaning her car before her morning commute easier.
"It took me like ten minutes to chisel out my car," Bowden said of the snowstorm in January. "It was pretty intense. I was not expecting it because it doesn't normally snow here like that."
While the light snow has its perks for drivers, Deputy Director of Worcester County Emergency Services James Hamilton said it could complicate things for road crews.
"Unfortunately, that does let the snow blow a little bit more and drift back into the roadway," Hamilton said. "That's a little bit more for the crews to keep up on."
Sunny skies helped melt the inches of snow on the ground in Snow Hill, but with temperatures dropping below freezing tonight, Hamilton said crews' focus is shifting from snow to potential ice.
"I could see a little bit of refreezing, and roads crews are trying to continue to treat that with brine," Hamilton said.
Despite the potential for ice, crews had mostly cleared the roads by early Thursday afternoon, which Hamilton credited partly to accurate weather forecasts.
"That was really spot on in terms of accumulation and it allowed our county road crews to be able to pretreat the roads with a brine treatment and really be able to hit plowing as soon as there was enough snow," Hamilton said.