Digging out is the order of business late Sunday after likely the deepest snowfall in several years in Delaware County.
The snow piled up Sunday with temperatures in the teens with a steady northeast wind in the teens and gusts up to the 20s.
The official snow total from Philadelphia International Airport was 7.4 inches at 1 p.m. Sunday. The forecast was for 8 to 12 inches total. The automated equipment at the airport did note that sleet had begun to mix in shortly after 11:30 a.m.
Nearby in Wilmington, that airport recorded 5.5 inches. Allentown led the way in region with 9.2 inches and Reading was next at 8.4 inches.
The National Weather Service office in Mount Holly, N.J., which oversees the Philadelphia area, much of the rest of eastern Pennsylvania, much of New Jersey and all of Delaware, posted two totals from the Delaware County during the late morning. They were Chadds Ford at 5.0 inches and Morton at 3.0.
More will be available on Monday.
By 3 p.m., the weather service said the chance for ice accumulation in the I-95 corridor and to the south and east was increasing but didn’t give a timetable for how long the threat would go on.
One thing the storm didn’t do as of Sunday afternoon was knock out power to a large area. PECO reported only a handful to a few dozen customers out at a time in Delaware County.
S stands for snow and saucers in Haverford Township and many spots across the area. (PETE BANNAN – DAILY TIMES)
Roads
These roads in PennDOT’s District 6, which includes Delaware County, remained under the 45 mph speed restriction:
• Interstates 76, 95, 295, 476, 676.
• U.S. Routes 1, 30, 202, 422.
The Tier 4 vehicle restrictions announced Saturday by PennDOT and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission remain in effect on all Pennsylvania interstates, including the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
Tier 4 restrictions mean no commercial vehicles, school buses, commercial buses, motor coaches, motorcycles, RVs/motorhomes and passenger vehicles (cars, SUVs, pickup trucks, etc.) towing trailers are not permitted while restrictions are in place.
Motorists can check road conditions at www.511PA.com.
Air travel
The heavy equipment is out Sunday morning at Philadelphia International. (COURTESY OF PHL)
As of 1 p.m., there were 650 canceled flights Sunday into/out of Philadelphia International Airport.
Flight cancellations and delays are expected to continue and can be tracked at www.flightaware.com/live/cancelled/today/KPHL.
The airport reminds passengers to check with their airlines for the latest flight information and to be safe when traveling to and from the airport.
The airport also said Sunday that the TSA will not operate checkpoints at A-West, B and C. Guests can use the TSA checkpoints for A-East, D/E and F.
It wasn’t yet clear when normal operations would resume.
An aptly named monster truck out on a runway Sunday morning at Philadelphia International Airport. (COURTESY OF PHL)
The forecast
A winter storm warning was expected to run through Monday at 1 p.m.
Monday is looking like a bit of a reprieve temperaturewise before a forecast arctic wave sets in, with a high near 30 degrees.
The front is expected to roll in later Monday into early Tuesday. Highs Tuesday through Friday are likely to be near 20 degrees, with lows in the single digits.
For the weekend, a little nicer with highs in the mid-20s and lows a couple degrees warmer. Finally, next Monday, the mercury might reach the freezing mark.
The Mount Holly office says that barring an unexpected spike on Monday, the time at or below freezing will be the longest since the bitter cold December 1989, which is the coldest December on record most other locations in the region.
In Philadelphia, it is bettered by a tenth of a degree by the December in the centennial year. The other databases might not go back that far.