Snow tapers off in Philly, but forecasters are eying a potential weekend storm; totals from around the region

The timing couldn’t have been much worse for the morning-rush commuters or for the hundreds of thousands of kids who were so looking forward to spending a Monday in their classrooms.

Officially it was Philly’s biggest snow of the season — a hefty 1.8 inches of powder-puff landed at the airport — and while the totals in and around the city fell a few measures short of even the relatively modest expectations, it appears that the wintry landscape is going to be be staying around for awhile.

In fact, even though it won’t be snowing, Tuesday is likely to be decidedly harsher than the first day of the workweek, with morning wind chills in the single digits, gusts to 45 mph, temperatures below freezing all day, and loose snow blowing back onto roads, driveways, and sidewalks.

When some West Philly kids heard the season’s first major snow was on the forecast, they scoffed. This climate change generation had been burned before by the weatherman’s prognostications, and wouldn’t be fooled again.

“These people are kidding themselves. It’s not gonna snow,” said Cece Jerolmack, 11, about her hardened mindset. But that skepticism didn’t stop her from celebrating the snow when it arrived, as well as a day off from school.

“I was like, yesss!!”

It didn’t quite measure up to the modest expectations, but officially 1.8 inches of snow landed at Philadelphia International Airport.

The would be nine times more than the previous high this winter, the 0.2 inches of Christmas Eve.

For the season, the Philly total stands at 2.1 inches.

Flights are moving into and out of Philadelphia International Airport at a glacial pace as snow continues to fall on the Philadelphia region.

The airport was reporting 196 inbound and outbound delays as 12:30 p.m. Monday, up from 62 delays this morning, according to flight tracker FlightAware. Cancellations, meanwhile, have held steady at 63.

The airport is encouraging travelers to stay in touch with their airlines for up-to-date flight information.

A general 1 to 2 inches has been reported in and around Philly as of noon, says Eric Hoeflich, a National Weather Service meteorologist who has been tracking snowfall reports.

Forecasters were awaiting updated computer guidance, but he said he expected the snow, which has been falling at varying intensities, to continue for the next three or four hours. Another round of light snow is possible Monday night, he added.

In southern Delaware, where reports of up to 8 inches already have been logged, and deep South Jersey, including the Shore, accumulating snow is expected to continue until about 4, he said. Then after about a three-hour lull, it is expected to pick up again and continue until late Monday night.

When it snows at Philadelphia International Airport, some 40 million square feet need to be cleared which includes airplane runways and taxiways.

Vehicles with plows and brooms start to clear the snow at the airport typically as soon as more than half an inch of wet snow or two inches of dry snow accumulate on runways, according to a statement from the airport.

On Monday, up to four inches of snow are expected in Philadelphia, and work has been underway to clear the airport’s snow and ice. Roughly 60 flights had been cancelled at PHL including outgoing and incoming trips as of 8:30 a.m.

This snowfall isn’t going to come close to measuring up to it, but this happens to be the eve of the 29th anniversary of the biggest snow on record in Philadelphia, 30.7 inches on Jan. 7-8, 1996. That’s about seven more inches than the city’s average for an entire season. Snow records in Philly date to the winter of 1884-85, and nothing before or since has matched that total.

It also was the highest among among the I-95 cities for a storm in which 20 inches or more fell upon an area inhabited by nearly 40 million people from Virginia to Massachusetts.

“This was the storm for the ages, no question about it,” observed Louis W. Uccellini, former head of the National Weather Service and co-author of what is considered the seminal treatise on winter storms, and of that snow-population study. Nor has any snow since quite measured up to its impact in the analysis by Uccellini and meteorologist Paul J. Kocin.

For days meteorologists have been talking about the potential of a dramatic north-south divide for snow totals.

Evidently they were on to something.

So far, 6 inches and more have been reported in parts of southern Delaware, where some mixing remained possible. Meanwhile, a mighty 0.3 was reported in Langhorne, Bucks County.

In Wildwood, Mayor Ernie Troiano called the snowfall "one of the prettier snows I've seen in a long time."

"It's a really beautiful snow," Troiano said. "There's no wind blowing. It's coming straight down. You walk outside, it's very surreal and serene and calming. My grandkids are looking out the window, they're mesmerized. It's a beautiful snow fall."

The snow closed everything from schools to the nearby Cape May County Zoo, and New Jersey was under a state of emergency. But it was the sheer beauty of the storm that struck Troiano on Monday. He said the people who crowd Wildwood in the summer miss out on something essential about the Shore.

The powdery snow that arrive just before daybreak in the immediate Philly area has intensified, and the bulk of it is expected to fall during the morning hours.

Four inches is still in play for Philadelphia International Airport, where a trace was reported at 7 a.m., with higher amounts to the south, and perhaps several inches in Delaware and South Jersey. Nearly a half inch had fallen at the Shore.

To the north of the city, however, the snow is running into a wall of dry, cold air that that barricaded its advance. Northeast Philly, for example, may see only about 2.5 inches, said Paul Fitzsimmons, lead meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mount Holly. And areas farther north may have to settle for an inch or so of road salt and brine.

With the first significant snowstorm of the season expected to create travel havoc Monday, the Philadelphia School District has canceled school. All city government offices also will be closed.

In a statement issued to the schools community Sunday, Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. cited “the safety and well-being of our students, staff, and families” in the decision to postpone classes Monday and all after-school activities including all athletic programs and professional development sessions.

Watlington said the school district this year allotted one extra day in the school-year calendar beyond the state-mandated 180, which we will be used as Monday’s snow day. “Going forward, any school closures related to inclement weather will be remote learning days,” he said.

After eight consecutive days of winds gusting past 20 and 30 mph, the storm affecting the region is expected to have a calming effect, at least on the breezes.

This is a massive storm moving more or less west to east, not a no’reaster. Those coastal storms can generate potent winds off the ocean that driving up tides and erode beaches. They also can import warm air that can change snow to rain.

Forecasters say that won’t be a factor in the Philly region this go-round, and it’s likely that precipitation will remain all or mostly snow at the Shore.

The wind gusts scheduled to resume Tuesday will be the vanguard of the most significant cold spell in at least four years, said Bob Larsen, a senior meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc., as Arctic cold dominates the eastern two-thirds of the country.

Larsen said Philly may experience temperatures well below normal “for a solid two weeks straight.”

The government’s Climate Prediction Center has the odds favoring temperatures below normal through Jan. 18.