Light snow in Philly is expected to continue into late Thursday night
The paved surfaces are cold, and the timing of any snow showers could cause problems.
It hasn’t quite matched the record 10.2 inches that transformed Norfolk, Va., into a winter wonderland on Wednesday, but snow showers and light snow have persisted in the Philly region, leaving small (as in very small) accumulations and slickening some roads.
Snow has been falling at the rate of about an inch every couple days, but the tenth of an inch reported as of 5 p.m. at Philadelphia International Airport brought Philly’s seasonal total to 8.1 inches, surpassing New Orleans’ 8.0 for the winter of 2024-25.
Light snow was expected to persist until 11 p.m. or so, said Amada Lee, meteorologist at the National Weather Service Office in Mount Holly, but any additional accumulations won’t be prodigious.
Over a half inch was reported in parts of Chester and Bucks Counties, and with temperatures in the low and mid-20s, wind-blown snow, such as it was, was snaking across the roads.
The snow, which played peek-a-boo with the sun during the afternoon, is associated with a “vigorous” system in the upper atmosphere, said Mike Lee, and it wasn’t going to come close to rivaling what happened in coastal southeastern Virginia.
The 10.2 inches measured officially in Norfolk smashed the standing record for a Feb. 19, which had been 0.6 inches.
Philly, meanwhile, continues to dig out of a “snow hole,” with just 8.1 inches for the season at PHL, less than half of normal. It is the only official weather station in the I-95 corridor from Virginia to Maine that hasn’t reached double figures in snow totals for the winter of 2024-25.
That is unlikely to change by the end of the month, which also would mark the end of the meteorological winter.
A warming trend is due to start Friday, with temperatures likely reaching 50 degrees early next week, and no precipitation in sight.
But at long last, Philly has passed New Orleans.