After having experienced its heaviest snowfall in about a decade, the Philadelphia region now faces frigid temperatures that are expected to barely squeak out of the teens until next week. And all while dealing with cleanup from the 9.3 inches of snow that blanketed the city, a task made more complicated by minimal natural melting due to the cold — plus monitoring another potential winter storm for this coming weekend.
But don’t panic just yet. Forecasters at the National Weather Service office in Mount Holly say it’s too early to tell whether mean old Jack Frost will set his sights on us once again in the coming days, and what level of snowfall we could see if he does.
“There will likely be a system somewhere off the Eastern Seaboard over the weekend,” said weather service meteorologist Joe DeSilva. “But it’s very uncertain at this point.”
Besides, we’ve got enough to worry about already.
It won’t just be cold in the Philadelphia area this week — it will be dangerously so. On Tuesday, temperatures generally stretched only into the low or mid 20s, a good five to 10 degrees lower than what we saw Monday, the weather service said. Lows, meanwhile, stuck stubbornly in the single digits, with wind chills making it feel like zero or below.
That cold, it seems, will refuse to budge until next week. As we move through the final week of January, temps are expected to continue to nosedive, the weather service said.
Daytime highs throughout the week are expected to top out in the mid- or upper teens in the Philadelphia region, with some spots seeing the off chance of making it into the 20s. Lows are likely to stick in the single digits through Friday. As the weather service put it in a Tuesday afternoon update, this is “bone-chilling” cold that has the potential not only to stress the energy grid — as New Jersey and Philadelphia officials alluded to Monday — but also to cause frostbite and hypothermia.
Philadelphia, in fact, has the grim potential of hitting zero degrees for the first time in 32 years sometime in the coming days. We haven’t seen zero at the Philadelphia International Airport since Jan. 19, 1994, but that mercifully long streak could be broken Thursday or Friday, when temperatures are expected to go as low as 2 or 3 degrees, DeSilva said.
“We still have three nights before we get there, so lots could change between now and then,” he added.
A pedestrian walks through a snow-covered parking lot at Ninth and Arch Streets in Center City Philadelphia, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026.
These lows arrive as Philadelphia continues to dig out from last weekend’s winter storm, which resulted in a days-long snow emergency in the city that was only lifted Tuesday amid closures for city offices, courts, and schools. Despite a full-court press by the Philadelphia Streets Department, many smaller streets remained unplowed, and the cold weather threatened to institute a deep freeze that could complicate the cleanup, officials have said.
Unfortunately, no break is imminent. Temperatures are not expected to get above freezing until the early or middle part of next week, and even then perhaps barely so. In its Tuesday afternoon forecast, the weather service called the length and magnitude of the arctic air mass descending upon the area “exceedingly rare” and urged caution. Normal low temperatures for Monday’s date, for example, stand at about 25 degrees.
“We are running 15 to 20 degrees below average,” DeSilva said.
And then there is the possibility of even more snow amid our extended bout of cold — though as of Tuesday afternoon, it remained just that. The weather service noted that it remained unclear where precipitation could fall, and in what amounts, though early models indicated that the storm could spare much of the area away from the coast. Still, DeSilva said, it remained too early Tuesday to tell what to expect.
“If lows track further off the coast, we could see less impact here, but if they’re closer, we may have some moderate impacts,” DeSilva said.
Helen Cherry, 101, formerly of Philadelphia, prolific illustrator, artist, and show tunes devotee, died Thursday, Jan. 15, of age-associated decline at her home in the Woodland Pond retirement community in New Paltz, N.Y.
“It was her decision entirely,” said her daughter, Lynne. “She knew her own mind and made the decision that it was time for her to take flight to the Great Beyond.”
A lifelong artist, Mrs. Cherry grew up drawing and painting in West Philadelphia. She earned a scholarship to the old Philadelphia College of Art, sold illustrations to the Jack and Jill children’s magazine, and took a 20-year hiatus in the 1950s and ’60s to rear her three children.
She resumed her career at 50 in 1974 and went on to illustrate 30 books and dozens of magazine stories for Highlights, Cricket, and other publications. Using a combination of her maiden name, Cogan, and her married name, Cherry, she was published under thepseudonym of Helen Cogancherry.
Mrs. Cherry at work illustrating 1991’s “Fourth of July Bear.”
“She was always an artist,” said her daughter, also an illustrator and writer. “Art was her hobby, her passion, her work. She said it was something that she can’t not do.”
Mrs. Cherry was a keen and imaginative observer of life, adept at creating visuals that reflected the concepts of the writers with whom she worked. She illustrated many children’s books, such as All I Am, Warm as Wool, and The Floating House.
She told The Inquirer in 1986 that a book she illustrated helped a girl she knew address a difficult childhood situation. “That made a profound impression on me,” she said. “I saw how my little books could help children.”
Her career was featured in several publications, and she told The Inquirer that breaking back into the business in the 1970s was “discouraging at first.” She said: “I remember coming home sometimes and telling my husband that it was hopeless. He kept encouraging me to keep at it.”
Mrs. Cherry (left) and her daughter, Lynne, work on a project.
Helen Cogan was born July 9, 1924, in a West Philadelphia rowhouse beneath the elevated railroad tracks. The middle of three children, she looked up to her sister, Molly, and cared for her younger brother, Robert, while her parents ran the small grocery store they lived above.
She contributed illustrations to the yearbook and graduated from West Philadelphia High School. She met Herbert Cherry in French class and sent him beautifully illustrated letters while he served overseas during World War II.
They married in 1950 and had a daughter, Lynne, and sons Steven and Michael. She helped her husband operate Cherry’s Pharmacy in Ridley Park for years, and they lived in Milmont Park and Wallingford in Delaware County, and Carlisle, Pa. She moved to New Paltz after her husband died in 2000.
Mrs. Cherry often sang show tunes with family and friends, and while she worked. She whipped up memorable meals, especially on holidays, and enjoyed idyllic summers on family vacations at the Jersey Shore in Ventnor.
Mrs. Cherry grew up in West Philadelphia.
She tutored her children and their friends, and later her grandchildren, in drawing and painting. She showed everybody, her daughter said, “how to be a good human being in this world.”
On Facebook, friends called her “warm,” “beautiful,” and “a talented giver.” One said: “The joy she radiated her whole life long was magical.”
Her daughter said: “She was quiet and understated but strong.”
Her favorite song was “Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries.” It opens with: “Life is just a bowl of cherries. Don’t take it serious. Life’s so mysterious.”
Mrs. Cherry enjoyed time with her children.
In addition to her children, Mrs. Cherry is survived by five grandchildren, a great-granddaughter, her brother, and other relatives. Her sister died earlier.
A memorial service was held Sunday, Jan. 18. A celebration of her life is to be held later.
In the month since Philadelphia Councilmember Jeffery Young introduced a bill banning residential development around the former Hahnemann University Hospital, 824 apartments have been permitted in the area.
The latest zoning permits include 163 units at 1501-11 Race St., which were issued Monday. Brandywine Realty Trust purchased the former Bellet Building office tower in 2021 for $9.7 million.
Brandywine did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It is not clear whether Brandywine is seeking to develop the apartments or to just secure permits to preserve the option for a future buyer.
Last week, zoning permits were issued for 300 units at 300-304 N. Broad St., known as Martinelli Park, the last piece of the former Hahnemann Hospital site that has yet to be sold. The last bid for the site came from the HOW Group, which offered $5.5 million and planned multifamily housing there. But the sale did not go through.
Attempts to reach Hahnemann’s representatives were unsuccessful. It is likely the permits are being secured to preserve the property’s value.
A City Council Rules Committee hearing on Young’s bill is scheduled for Feb. 3.
The rush for permits began on Dec. 24, two weeks after Young introduced his bill, when the Dwight City Group received a zoning permit for 222-48 N. Broad St. to builda 361-unit apartment building.
When “an overlay is placed like this … even though we have our zoning permit already from one of the buildings, the message that it sends is that this area is closed for business,” Judah Angster, CEO of Dwight City Group, said at a January meeting of the Philadelphia Planning Commission.
He said the project now includes 90,000 square feet for commercial use, which would be dedicated to local small businesses.
Why does Young want to ban housing?
Young’s bill would create a new zoning overlay covering the area “bounded by the north side of Race Street, the east side of North 16th Street, the south side of Callowhill Street, and the west side of North Broad Street.”
This covers the former Hahnemann campus, which included seven medical buildings, a parking garage, and some surface lots. The hospital dated to the 19th century and had been operating from this location for 90 years before its bankruptcy.
A handful of other buildings are in the proposed overlay as well, including a PHA apartment building and a homeless shelter.
What once was the Hahnemann campus sprawls over nearly six acres, centered on Broad Street along the Vine Street Expressway, comprising seven medical buildings, a parking garage, and surface lots.
Young said that he wanted to ban new homes from the site to preserve job opportunities in the city, hopefully prompting the reuse of the site for office, medical, or educational use.
At the Planning Commission meeting, the bill was largely discussed as Young’s effort to force developers to meet with him over their plans. The Hahnemann site is zoned with Philadelphia’s most flexible land use rules, which means that under normal circumstances, residential conversions would not require neighborhood meetings or political approvals.
“I look forward to continuing dialogue that brings community stakeholders to the table for this important section of Center City,” Young said in an email Tuesday.
Dwight Group has said that it is having productive conversations with Young.
The legislation is considered by some legal experts as a blatant use of spot zoning, when a change in land use rules is targeted to a limited geography. Such legislation is often introduced to help or hurt a particular project.
“In my time as a zoning lawyer for 27 years, I don’t think I’ve seen a greater example of illegal spot zoning,” Matt McClure, head of law firm Ballard Spahr’s land use practice and a lawyer for developer Dwight City, said the January meeting. “It is targeted at a particular property, targeted around a certain transaction that was talked about. It’s just illegal.”
Hahnemann University Hospital has been closed for more than six years, and attempts to preserve medical and educational uses in its former buildings so far have faltered. Most are still vacant.
Philadelphia lawmakers are set to consider legislation that would make it harder for ICE to operate in the city, including limiting information sharing, restricting activity on city-owned property, and prohibiting agents from concealing their identities.
Among the package of bills set to be introduced Thursday is an ordinance that effectively makes permanent Philadelphia’s status as a so-called “sanctuary city” by barring city officials from holding undocumented immigrants at ICE’s request without a court order. Another bans discrimination based on immigration status.
Two City Council members are expected to introduce the legislation as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is facing mounting national scrutiny over its tactics in Minneapolis, where federal agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens this month.
Councilmembers Rue Landau, a Democrat, and Kendra Brooks, of the progressive Working Families Party, said in an interview that the violence in Minneapolis hardened their resolve to introduce legislation to protect a population that includes an estimated 76,000 undocumented immigrants in Philadelphia.
“It’s been very disheartening and frightening to watch ICE act with such lawlessness,” Landau said. “When they rise to the level of killing innocent civilians, unprecedented murders … this is absolutely the time to stand up and act.”
The package of a half-dozen bills is the most significant legislative effort that Council has undertaken to strengthen protections for immigrants since President Donald Trump took office last year on a promise to carry out a mass deportation campaign nationwide.
Left: City Councilmember Rue Landau. Right: City Councilmember Kendra Brooks. Landau and Brooks are introducing legislation this week to make it harder for ICE to operate in Philadelphia, including by limiting city cooperation with the agency.
ICE spokespeople did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Jasmine Rivera, executive director of the Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition, said it’s not the job nor the jurisdiction of the city to enforce federal law.
The goal of the legislation, Rivera said, is ensuring that “not a single dime and single second of our local resources is being spent collaborating with agencies that are executing people.”
Now, the mayor could be forced to take a side. If City Council passes Landau and Brooks’ legislation this spring, Parker could either sign the bills into law, veto them, or take no action and allow them to lapse into law without her signature. She has never vetoed a bill.
Joe Grace, a spokesperson for Parker, declined to comment on the legislation.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker speaks at a news conference earlier this month. It is unclear how she will act on upcoming legislation related to ICE operations in Philadelphia.
It’s unclear what fate the ICE legislation could meet in Council. The 17-member body has just one Republican, but Parker holds influence with many of the Democrats in the chamber.
City Council President Kenyatta Johnson, a Democrat who controls the flow of legislation, has not taken a position on the package proposed by Landau and Brooks.
But he said in a statement that “Philadelphia has long positioned itself as a welcoming city that values the contributions of immigrants and strives to protect their rights and safety.”
“I have deep concerns about federal ICE actions directed by President Donald Trump’s administration that sow fear and anxiety in immigrant communities,” Johnson said, “underscoring the belief that enforcement practices should be lawful, humane, and not undermine trust in public safety.”
Making sanctuary status the law
Border Patrol and ICE are both federal immigration agencies, which are legally allowed to operate in public places and subject to federal rules and regulations. Some cities and states —not including Pennsylvania and New Jersey — actively cooperate with ICE through written agreements.
Since 2016, Philadelphia has operated under an executive order signed by former Mayor Jim Kenney, which prohibits city jails from honoring ICE “detainer requests,” in which federal agents ask the city to hold undocumented immigrants in jail for longer than they would have otherwise been in custody to facilitate their arrest by federal authorities.
Undocumented immigrants are not shielded from federal immigration enforcement, nor from being arrested and charged by local police for local offenses.
Some refer to the noncooperation arrangement as “sanctuary.” As the term “sanctuary cities” has become politically toxic, some local officials — including in Philadelphia — have backed away from it, instead declaring their jurisdictions to be “welcoming cities.”
Parker administration officials have said several times over the last year that Philadelphia remains a “welcoming city.”
Protesters march up Eighth Street, toward the immigration offices, during the Philly stands with Minneapolis Ice Out For Good protest at Philadelphia’s City Hall on Jan. 23.
But advocates for immigrants have said they want an ironclad city policy that can’t be rescinded by a mayor.
Landau and Brooks’ legislation would be that, codifying the executive order into law and adding new prohibitions on information sharing. The package includes legislation to:
Strengthen restrictions on city workers, including banning local police from carrying out federal immigration enforcement and prohibiting city workers from assisting in enforcement operations.
Prohibiting law enforcement officers from concealing their identities, including by wearing masks or covering up badges with identifying information.
Banning ICE from staging raids on city-owned property and designated community spaces such as schools, parks, libraries, and homeless shelters. (It would not apply to the Criminal Justice Center, where ICE has had a presence. The courthouse is overseen by both city and state agencies.)
Prohibiting city agencies and contractors from providing ICE access to data sets to assist in immigration enforcement.
Restricting city employees from inquiring about individuals’ immigration status unless required by a court order, or state or federal law.
Peter Pedemonti, co-director of New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia, an advocacy organization that partnered with the Council members to craft the package of bills, compared ICE to an octopus that has multiple arms reaching into different facets of American life.
The proposed legislation, he said, is a means to bind a few of those arms.
“The whole world can see the violence and brutality,” Pedemonti said. “This is a moment where all of us need to stand up, and Philadelphia can stand up and speak out loud and clear that we don’t want ICE here to pull our families apart, the families that make Philadelphia Philadelphia.”
An impending showdown that Parker hoped to avoid
Homeland Security officials claim that sanctuary jurisdictions protect criminal, undocumented immigrants from facing consequences while putting U.S. citizens and law enforcement officers in peril.
Last year, the Trump administration named Philadelphia as among the jurisdictions impeding federal immigration enforcement. The White House has said the federal government will cut off funding to sanctuary cities by Feb. 1.
Some of Parker’s supporters say the mayor’s conflict-averse strategy has spared Philadelphia as other cities such as Washington, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Minneapolis have seen National Guard troops or waves of ICE agents arrive in force.
Residents near the scene of a shooting by a federal law enforcement agent in Minneapolis on Saturday.
Critics, including the backers of the new legislation, have for months pressed Parker to take a stronger stand.
Brooks said she “would love to have the support of the administration.”
“This should be something that we should be working collaboratively on,” she said. “Philadelphia residents are demanding us do something as elected officials, and this is our time to lead.”
But Parker has not been eager to speak about Philadelphia’s immigration policies.
For example, the city is refusing to release a September letter it sent to the U.S. Department of Justice regarding its immigration-related policies, even after the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records ruled its reasoning for keeping the document secret was invalid. The Inquirer has requested a copy of the letter under the state Right-to-Know Law.
The new Council legislation and the increasing tension over Trump’s deportation push may force Parker to take a clearer position.
Notably, the city sued the federal government last week over its removal of exhibits related to slavery from the President’s House at Independence National Historical Park, potentially signaling a new willingness by Parker to push back against the White House.
But even then, Parker declined to take a jab at Trump.
“In moments like this,” she said last week, “it requires that I be the leader that I need to be for our city, and I can’t allow my pride, ego, or emotions to dictate what my actions will be.”
Call Your Mother — the popular neighborhood bagel shop and “Jew-ish” deli from the District of Columbia — is headed to the Keystone State.
It’s part of a steady ongoing expansion, including about 25 locations across D.C., Maryland, Virginia, Colorado, and Illinois, plus more on the way.
The first Philly location will be in Fishtown, in the corner space of 1500 Frankford Ave., and is expected to open this summer, owners said.
“This will be the start of more shops in Philly,” co-owner Andrew Dana said. “But we’ve never had a master plan on how to roll out. We’ll go where people want bagels and where we’re excited to be, as long as our food quality and service stay the same.”
With colorful decor that would feel right at home in West Palm Beach and stuffed bagel sandwiches made with latkes, whitefish dips, and smoked salmon, Call Your Mother is popular across the DMV.
In the six years since Dana and his wife, co-owner Daniela Moreira, opened that first location, the shop has been praised across food publications like Bon Appétit and Eater for its vibe and sandwiches. Some critics say the menu is overpriced, but items on the D.C. menu — including sandwiches and loose bagels — appear similarly priced to most of Philly’s bagel outposts (and sometimes cheaper).
On that note, Dana says to expect the same Call Your Mother signature menu items — like its bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches and its babka muffins. “But we’re in the lab trying to cook up some special Philly flair, too,” he said.
You can also expect a colorful buildout.
“Most of the building will be painted pink, but we’re on the hunt for a local muralist to put an extra stamp on the building,” Dana said. “We’re also looking for local Philly food products to showcase.” Locals interested in getting in on the mix are encouraged to direct message Call Your Mother on Instagram.
The expansion comes amid a bagel boom in the Philly area: Viral bagel chain PopUp Bagels is set to open its first Pennsylvania location in Ardmore with seven more locations on the way in the Philadelphia region, including Suburban Square and Center City. Bart’s Bagels of West Philly is opening its third location in Bala Cynwyd, and Penny’s Bagels is coming to Haddonfield this year, as well.
“It’s a rise of the tide situation,” Dana said. “We’re not trying to take anyone’s territory. We don’t want to threaten a local spot. People love carbs, people love bagels. There’s enough room for everyone.”
The Frankford Avenue spot is part of a surge of popular food options in the area. It’s right across the street from Marina’s Pizza and El Chingón, and down the road from the new Medium Rare location.
“The infusion of best-in-class national brands like Call Your Mother Deli represents Fishtown’s strength today,” said Stefanie Gabel of MSC, who represented both Call Your Mother and the building’s landlord in the transaction. Gabel will continue to represent Call Your Mother as the deli expands within the Philly region. “Their presence also serves as a catalyst for the continued growth and longevity of Philadelphia’s most explosive mixed-use ecosystem.”
Call Your Mother recently made national headlines when it filed a trademark lawsuit against New Jersey’s Call Your Bubbi, a beach town cafe and kosher-certified bagel shop in Long Branch. Dana and Moreira said the Jersey cafe, which also sometimes goes by Bubbi Bagels, intentionally used a “confusingly similar” name and branding at times.
The dueling shops settled outside of court in early January, according to court documents. Dana declined to comment on the terms. Bubbi Bagels owner David Mizrahi could not be reached for comment.
As for what drove the couple to come to Philly, Dana said it was a simple decision: He very literally called his mother, Mary Wilson.
Wilson’s parents lived in Mount Airy and growing up Dana would visit his maternal grandparents often. He would go to their house, venture downtown, and explore Chestnut Hill. One of his best friends attended Penn. His cousins live on the Main Line. His other best friend lives in Bryn Mawr. In many ways, Dana says Call Your Mother coming to Philly is a natural progression.
“I’ve spent an insane amount of time here. I love the culture, the food, the vibe. It’s a great place to be,” he said.
In 2024, the properties were given to the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA). This month the agency finally announced its plans: $84 million will be spent to gut and rehabilitate 113 units and build 40 apartments for seniors.
Most of the properties will be earmarked as rentals for very low-income Philadelphians at 30% of area median income, or roughly $32,000 for a family of three. The former Settlement buildings are a mix of rowhouses, duplexes, and small apartment buildings.
“I was shocked and dismayed by the conditions,” said Kelvin Jeremiah, CEO of PHA. “It’s going to cost a lot of money to get it back to habitable use.”
Some critics of the plans say the amount PHA plans to spend beggars belief. Spilt 153 ways, $84 million is almost $550,000 a property.
Longtime Northwest Philadelphia developer Ken Weinstein says his company could build new units at $284,000 a unit, and small developers who are active in the neighborhood can rehab houses for $152,000 apiece.
“We have limited government resources, and we have so many people that need subsidies to put a roof over their heads,” Weinstein said. “I don’t know why we wouldn’t stretch our dollars as far as possible.”
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Weinstein emphasized that he thinks Jeremiah has been a transformative and innovative leader for PHA, but he doesn’t understand why the agency isn’t trying to get the properties back into productive use in a more cost-effective way.
He noted that PHA has sold scattered site single-family units it owns in the area to small developers for low-cost revitalization, with deed restrictions in place to keep them affordable in the long term.
Weinstein also points to PHA’s campaign to obtain struggling new apartment buildings as an example of its capacity for flexibility and cost sensitivity. Jeremiah has said the purchases are being made because they cut the agency’s costs in half in contrast to building new.
“I thought it was brilliant that PHA set out to buy existing apartment buildings at $200,000 a unit. That is a much better way to address the affordability issue in housing,” Weinstein said. “I don’t know why PHA would go out of their way to spend 2½-times that to rehab and newly construct in Germantown.”
The transfer of the former Germantown Settlement properties from the Redevelopment Authority to PHA was controversial in 2024. Some residents felt a community engagement campaign had been ignored. Many attendees had expressed a desire for more homeownership opportunities.
Jeremiah says that after a community meeting earlier this month, he is open to using 16 of the properties for affordable homeownership.
“We heard that they would like to see a more balanced community, and so we’re going to work through what that means,” Jeremiah said. “We are revisiting some of the suggestions that we heard from the community, and we are going to revise our plans.”
But Jeremiah says that sales to small developers for homeownership units, even with deed restrictions, would not help the poorest Philadelphians.
When PHA does sell scattered site homes for private redevelopment, the rebuilt houses primarily go to those making 60% of area median income or $64,000 for a family of three.
A former Germantown Settlement property, courtesy of Kelvin Jeremiah.
The lowest-income residents, who make half that, are the overwhelming majority of PHA’s tenants. They are not in a position to buy a home — even a subsidized and permanently affordable one.
“A mom and pop [developer] would be hard-pressed to maintain permanent affordability,” Jeremiah said.
Keeping the former Germantown Settlement properties as PHA-run rentals will guarantee a repository of affordable units no matter how this corner of Northwest Philadelphia evolves, he said.
“Some of our assets are in communities that are rapidly becoming unaffordable,” Jeremiah said. “Our assets in those communities ensure we are maintaining some level of affordability.”
Jeremiah himself has often criticized how much it costs PHA to build or gut rehabilitate projects, but he notes that the agency is restricted by a variety of federal regulations.
“The construction costs are untenable for us, but it’s driven by the regulatory requirements that we must adhere to,” he said. “I have no flexibility.”
Jeremiah estimates that the rehabilitation work will begin in 2027, after PHA hopefully secures Low Income Housing Tax Credits this year. Once begun, he expects the project to take 15 months, so at earliest the homes will be ready for habitation again in 2028.
Many of the former Germantown Settlement properties have fallen into ruin over the last 10 years, with copper wiring stripped out and mold or insect infestations harrowing their interiors.
The city demolished the Blakemore Apartments because of their poor condition. Its site is where PHA will build a new 40-unit building for seniors. (PHA received 121 of 140 of the expired nonprofit’s units, with the rest going to smaller developers.)
The former Germantown Settlement properties are heavily concentrated in two sections of East Germantown, creating pockets of dense vacancy near the intersection of Church Lane and Lena Street and on the 40th blocks of Wister and Garfield Streets.
For Councilmember Cindy Bass, who represents the neighborhood, PHA is the right entity to redevelop these long troubled buildings.
“It’s very important to preserve affordable housing, and that’s what we’re doing here,” Bass said. “This is not for profit. This is for people.”
For the Philly region Monday it wasn’t so much a matter of digging out from the heftiest snowfall in a decade, it was more like a chipping, shaving, scraping, expletive-inducing, and ice-chunk hurling operation.
Public transportation appeared to be getting back on track, and major roads were open for business with speed reductions removed, thanks to crews working through the weekend.
But expect some side streets in the city and elsewhere to remain fit for sleigh rides this week and trash pickup to be delayed. City offices will be shut down again Tuesday, as will Philly school buildings, with Camden and more calling for a snow day or opting for remote learning.
And if you’re stepping outside, get used to that underfoot crunching sensation. The removal operation isn’t going to get much help this week from the atmosphere. It’s about to turn about as frigid as it ever gets around here. New Jersey officials are warning of “historic” demands on energy.
“We’re going to be in the freezer all week,” said Mike Gorse, meteorologist at the National Weather Service Office in Mount Holly. Philly may have its first zero-degree reading in 32 years later in the week.
It’s as if after recent wimpy winters, the Arctic is reacquainting with Philly and much of the rest of the East.
And did we mention another snow threat for the weekend?
“There’s a chance,” said Marc Chenard, meteorologist with NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center in iced-over College Park, Md., who was among those who had to chuck some frozen boulders before leaving for work Monday morning. “I had to chip it and carry it in pieces,” he said. Sound familiar?
Why this storm was particularly challenging
Snow totals for the biggest snowfall since Jan. 22-23, 2016, varied throughout the region; the inconveniences, not so much.
A general 8 to 12 inches of snow and sleet accumulated while temperatures remained mostly in the teens Sunday, 10 degrees or more below forecast.
A shallow layer of warmer air caused a changeover to sleet, and the tiny ice balls remained frozen for the entire trip through the stubbornly cold air near the surface. As much as 2 to 3 inches of sleet piled on,containing the same amount of liquid as several inches of snow.
That added weight to the snowpack. Based on the amount of melted precipitation measured in the 9.3 inches at Philadelphia International Airport, the snowpack weighed about as much as a 12- to 15-inch pile of the pure flaky fluff.
On a 200-square-foot driveway — a 10 by 20 — what fell Sunday weighed about 1,100 pounds. On a 100-square-foot sidewalk — 5 by 20 — that would be about 550 pounds.
In addition, ice tends to be rather shovel resistant.
This is going to be a memorably cold week in Philly
The ice and snow isn’t going to give up easily. On Monday, temperatures topped out in the upper 20s, and that’s going to be warmest day of the week.
Based on the forecast, it may not get above 28 degrees until next week, said Chenard, a cold streak the region hasn’t seen in decades.
Chenard said the upper-air patterns remain in place to import Arctic air on winds from the northwest for at least the next several days.
In fact, temperatures may have trouble getting out of the teens in Philly until the weekend, and Philly has a shot at reaching zero for the first time in 32 years.
The forecast lows are in the single digits all week, and down to 1 degree on Friday morning and 2 degrees on Saturday, the National Weather Service says. Both would be record lows for the dates.
The stubborn snow cover “absolutely” will increase the chances of the airport reaching zero for the first time since January 1994, Gorse said. Snow is ideal for radiating daytime warmth (such as it is) into space.
Temperatures will moderate some on the weekend, he said, but that might come in advance of yet another storm.
Said Chenard, “There will be coastal low. It’s a matter of how close it is.”
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One historic footnote in the Philly weather annals
Philly’s official snowfall total for the winterstands at 15.7 inches, almost double normal for the date and double what fell all of last season.
It beat the 8.5 inches of Jan. 25, 2000, a day that the weather service just as soon would like to forget.
The storm came as a surprise, just a week after a weather service honcho announced a computer upgrade that would bring the nation closer to a “no surprise” era.
Expect surprises to continue.
Staff writers Ximena Conde, Kristen A. Graham, Maddie Hanna, Rob Tornoe, and Nick Vadala contributed to this article.
A man is dead, and three others are hospitalized after a shooting inside a North Philadelphia house early Monday morning.
The Philadelphia Police Department responded to a report of a person with a gun on the 1700 block of North Croskey Street at around 4:15 a.m. Upon entering a home on the block, officers say they found four adult male shooting victims.
One man, estimated to be in his 50s, was found with a gunshot wound to the head. He was pronounced dead at the scene by medical personnel at 4:23 a.m., according to police.
Police said the three other men were transported to Temple University Hospital and are in stable condition at the time of writing. None of the victims have been identified.
A 48-year-old man suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the torso. A second man, 46, sustained two gunshot wounds to the stomach. Both are listed as in critical but stable condition.
The third man, 54, who was shot once in the right shoulder, is in stable condition.
Police recovered two firearms and found several spent shell casings inside the home where the men were found. No arrests were made, and no motive has been established as of publication.
Tips and information about this incident can be shared with PPD’s tip line at 215-686-8477.
This morning’s quadruple shooting comes during a January that saw some of the lowest numbers of homicides in Philadelphia in more than a decade, according to police data.
After Philly’s biggest snow in 10 years, a very big chill is coming
A person (okay with photograph but no name given), shovels on Flora Street in Brewerytown on Monday, Jan. 26, 2026 in Philadelphia. In Philadelphia, 9.3 inches of snow fell, the most in a decade.
For the Philly region Monday it wasn’t so much a matter of digging out from the heftiest snowfall in a decade, it was more like a chipping, shaving, scraping, expletive-inducing, and ice-chunk hurling operation.
Public transportation appeared to be getting back on track, and major roads were open for business with speed reductions removed, thanks to crews working through the weekend.
But expect some side streets in the city and elsewhere to remain fit for sleigh rides this week and trash pickup to be delayed. City offices will be shut down again Tuesday, as will Philly school buildings, with Camden and more calling for a snow day or opting for remote learning.
And if you’re stepping outside, get used to that underfoot crunching sensation. The removal operation isn’t going to get much help this week from the atmosphere. It’s about to turn about as frigid as it ever gets around here. New Jersey officials are warning of “historic” demands on energy.
“We’re going to be in the freezer all week,” said Mike Gorse, meteorologist at the National Weather Service Office in Mount Holly. Philly may have its first zero-degree reading in 32 years later in the week.
It’s as if after recent wimpy winters, the Arctic is reacquainting with Philly and much of the rest of the East.
And did we mention another snow threat for the weekend?
“There’s a chance,” said Marc Chenard, meteorologist with NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center in iced-over College Park, Md., who was among those who had to chuck some frozen boulders before leaving for work Monday morning. “I had to chip it and carry it in pieces,” he said. Sound familiar?
New Jersey and Philly officials expect increased energy demands amid cold
The snow may have stopped falling but officials in Philadelphia and New Jersey say the concerns over the extreme weather and impact on energy grids in the region remain.
The thousands who lost power during the snow storm in New Jersey had it restored by Monday, according to New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill.
She said the relative brevity of outages was due to utilities having workers at the ready “to make sure that if you lost power, they restored it as quickly as possible, knowing how cold it was going to get.”
Still, Sherrill said the state and utilities were preparing for “historic demand” expected Tuesday as a result of the expected temperature drop, which will continue throughout the rest of the week.
Sherrill said her administration has been in touch with PJM Interconnection, the state’s grid operator, to prepare for the surge in demand.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Energy has issued emergency ordersthat will allow PJM and other grid operators across the country to allow additional resources to stay online and help meet energy demands.
Like New Jersey, the Philadelphia region was also spared major outages Sunday.
But Office of Emergency Management Director Dominick Mireles asked the public to prepare for the potential overload of the energy grid and heating grid as the temperature could feel as though it were in the negatives with the wind chill.
Mireles suggested sealing drafts in homes, lowering the thermostat, even if by a few degrees, and switching to more energy efficient items. Something like doing laundry in non-peak hours could help relieve some of the strain on the grid, he said.
“To prepare in the event that you do lose power, you can do things like try to keep your devices charged and use flashlights instead of candles,” he said.
Philadelphia digs out from storm while planning for frigid temperatures
As Philadelphia continues to dig its way out of the weekend winter storm that dropped more than 9 inches of snow on the city, officials are turning an eye to the frigid forecast that is expected to stick around until next week.
“If you don’t have to go outside, do not. If you do not have to drive, please don’t,” Mayor Cherelle L. Park said at news conference Monday.
Parker’s warning came amid the city’s continued snow emergency that is to remain in effect until further notice. Streets Department workers are continuing snow-removal efforts, and had melted about 900 tons of snow with a snow melting machine over the past 10 hours, Parker said. But there was no timeline for the cleanup’s completion, and it could be complicated by the cold weather, Carlton Williams, director of the Office of Clean and Green Initiatives.
“We’re about to hit a deep freeze., and so whatever we don’t get could possibly freeze, and it makes it that much more difficult for us to plow frozen material,” Williams said.
Officials asked Philadelphia residents to help with cleanup efforts by, among other things, not shoveling snow from their sidewalks into the street. Parker also reminded motorists to not park their cars on snow emergency routes, and noted that roughly 350 vehicles had been towed from those routes on Sunday alone.
“This slows down our response, and it delays us from being able to clear this emergency,” Parker said. She added that residents who believe their car was towed from a snow emergency route can call 215-686-SNOW for further information.
Dominick Mireles, director of Philadelphia’s Office of Emergency Management, said the city was making preparations for the cold weather to come. The city, he said, expects high demands on its energy and heating infrastructure during the cold snap, and anticipates that the frigid temperatures could have impacts on the city’s water mains.
The Philadelphia Water Department, meanwhile, remains in an “enhanced operational posture” due to the prolonged cold, commissioner Benjamin Jewell said. He asked that if residents see a water leak or experience a service interruption, they can contact the department at 215-685-3600.
The city will also continue to run its warming centers, with daytime service at select libraries, and nighttime service at select recreation centers, said Crystal Yates Gale, deputy managing director for Health and Human Services. The warming centers will operate until the freezing conditions end, she added.
“Humans are not meant to be outside in those conditions,” she said.
Philadelphia school buildings won’t be open Tuesday as road conditions remain rough in many places after the weekend’s significant winter storm.
After Mayor Cherelle L. Parker told residents city offices and courts would be closed Tuesday, Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. affirmed the call for schools “out of an abundance of caution.”
The district sent students’ Chromebooks home with them Friday, allowing for a possible day of virtual learning Tuesday. Though Monday is a true day off, Watlington warned that if the snow required any further changes, he would pivot to virtual instruction.
City offices and courts will remain closed Tuesday as Philadelphia continues to recover from the weekend storm, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker said at a Monday news conference.
“Despite the tireless work involved in our intergovernmental response, we are not out of the woods, Philadelphia,” Parker said.
The closures are part of a continuing snow emergency declared in the city late Saturday. That snow emergency has not yet been lifted, and will continue until further notice, Parker said.
Watch: Mayor Parker offers updates on snow aftermath
// Timestamp 01/26/26 1:56pm
Camden schools to be closed Tuesday
Camden City School District schools and offices would be closed Tuesday, citing “unsafe conditions on streets and sidewalks” following Sunday’s storm.
“This additional closure will allow our Facilities Department more time to fully clear sidewalks and school grounds and ensure safe access to our buildings,” the district said in a statement.
PennDot has ‘plenty of salt on hand’ as road cleanup continues
SEPTA 27 bus along Ridge Avenue heading to Wissahickon Station Monday.
Gov. Josh Shapiro lauded the efforts of PennDot workers during the weekend’s storm at a Monday news conference, noting the department was “busy all across the commonwealth” due to the inclement weather hitting essentially all of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.
“Everybody felt an impact,” Shapiro said. The widespread nature of the storm, he added, was an unusual element, with snow totals surpassing 12 inches in some areas of the state.
PennDot secretary Mike Carroll said the department’s response to the storm was a team win, aided by agencies including the Pennsylvania State Police and Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.
“Folks across the spectrum did their part to help us really successfully deal with what is a very large winter storm these days,” Carroll said. “We’ve had a tremendous response to this storm.”
Prior to the storm’s arrival Sunday, PennDot issued vehicle restrictions for state roads that limited travel, and officials asked travelers to refrain from driving unless absolutely necessary. Shapiro said Monday that it appeared drivers had heeded those warnings, and asked that Pennsylvanians continue to stay home to allow cleanup to continue.
“Being off the road, being home today, is going to continue to allow PennDot to go out and clean up the last remaining roads and make sure that any of these spots that are wet won’t freeze up,” Shapiro said.
PennDot officials previously said that the department’s District 6, which encompasses the Philadelphia area, had roughly 70,000 tons of salt on hand to deal with the storm’s impacts. Bucks County, where Shapiro and Carroll spoke, started with roughly 14,000 of salt, and were down to an estimated 9,000 tons, though exact figures were not immediately available.
An additional 15,000 tons of salt were due to arrive in Bucks County this week, and officials said they anticipated no supply shortages.
“The department has plenty of salt on hand,” said PennDot assistant district executive for maintenance Tom Rogal. “We will not have any issues receiving and maintaining salt.”
Cheltenham and Upper Darby schools will be virtual Tuesday
The Cheltenham and Upper Darby school districtswill have virtual instruction Tuesday, as officials said road conditions were still too poor following the storm.
“After consulting with my team, many roads remain unpassable and are likely to refreeze after dusk, making bussing on Tuesday too risky,” CheltenhamSuperintendent Brian Scriven told families in a message Monday afternoon.
In Upper Darby, Superintendent Dan McGarry told families Monday afternoon that “unfortunately, we are going to need another day to continue to remove snow and ice.”
Many other Philadelphia-area districts have yet to announce Tuesday plans. The Philadelphia School District is expected to make an announcement at 3 p.m.
Scriven said Cheltenham administrators were “hopeful schools will return to normal operations as soon as possible,” and would communicate any additional schedule changes before Wednesday.
An inflatable Elmo ball rolls along a sidewalk Sunday.
Will Philadelphia schools be in session Tuesday, or give students and staff another day to dig out of the significant snowfall dumped on the region this weekend?
The district sent students’ Chromebooks home with them Friday, allowing for a possible day of virtual learning Tuesday. Though Monday is a true day off, Watlington said if the snow causes any further changes, he would pivot to virtual instruction.
At least one district has already announced plans for Tuesday. Haddon Heights, in South Jersey, will have a two-hour delay. Upper Darby school officials said they will call Tuesday plans “as soon as we are able to assess district facilities.”
Philly has a shot at breaking its 32-year zero-less streak
Yerome Rillera and his 9-year-old son, Kersey, sled down the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum in Philadelphia Monday.
It was up to 27 degrees at noon at Philadelphia International Airport on Monday, but it looks like it’s not going to make it to 30, and this is going to be the warmest of the next several days.
In fact, temperatures may have trouble getting out of the teens until the weekend, and Philly has a shot at reaching zero for the first time in 30 years later in the week.
The forecast lows will be in the single digits all week, and down to 1 above on Friday, the National Weather Service says.
Mike Gorse, meteorologist in the Mount Holly office, said the stubborn snow cover “absolutely” would increase the chances of the airport reaching zero for the first time since January 1994.
Snow is ideal for daytime heating (such as it is) to soar into space after sunset. Clear skies and light winds would further enhance the cooling.
State of emergency in N.J. ends, all major highways cleared
New Jersey achieved “black top” on all state highways and interstates Monday morning as crews continued to treat highways, according to New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill.
The New Jersey Turnpike, Garden State Parkway, and Atlantic City Expressway had also been cleared and will continue to be treated through the evening. Speed restrictions have been lifted.
But while the roads were no longer piled high with snow, Sherrill urged common sense for those who have to drive.
“These are wet roads, and the temperatures are below freezing, so be careful on bridges, on off and on-ramps,” she said.
So far, 85 bus lines connecting New York and Philadelphia are operational and most of the train lines should come online by the afternoon, though on a weekend schedule.
Sherrill said a state of emergency, which allowed New Jersey to access additional plows, salt, and other necessary equipment, ended at noon.
Speed limit restored on all major roadways across Philly region
Cars enter and leave Philadelphia on the Benjamin Franklin Bridge Sunday.
All speed and vehicle restrictions have been lifted on all interstates and major highways across the Philadelphia region, PennDot announced Monday.
Speed restrictions on U.S. 30 and U.S. 202 in Chester County were lifted at noon, while restrictions on interstates and other major state highways were removed earlier in the morning.
PennDot said it would continue to treat roadways until all travel lanes and shoulders are clear.
Connor Phan shovels out his car in the East Falls section Philadelphia Monday.
Anyone who has been out shoveling Monday can attest to the fact that not all snowfalls are created equal when it comes to getting their remains out of the way.
This one was especially challenging because it was chock full of ice chunks, the result of the harvest of sleet that feel after Sunday’s snow ended. Moving it required varying degrees of chipping, shaving, and boulder-hurling. Another challenge in this instance was the weight of it all.
Officially, 9.3 inches of snow was measured at Philadelphia International Airport, but given how much liquid was in the snowpack, the weight likely would have been similar to a snowfall of 12 to 15 inches of well-fluffed snow.
The snow-and-sleet melt at the airport came to about 1.1 inches. An inch of water over a square foot weighs an estimated 5.2 pounds.
On a 200-square-foot driveway — a 10 by 20 — what fell Sunday weighed about 1,144 pounds. On a 100-square-foot sidewalk — 5 by 20 — that would be 572 pounds.
In this case, given all the ice, it probably felt like more.
Trash trucks with plows clear Midvale Avenue near Ridge Avenue on Monday.
You can (likely) take your trash cans in if you’re expecting pick up Monday, as a slate of municipalities in Chester County are delaying trash and recycling collection services after the area was blanketed in snow this weekend.
Here’s a look at the delays municipalities have advertised online:
Avondale: Trash pick up moved to Tuesday.
Caln: Shifted by one day through the week, beginning Tuesday for Monday customers.
Kennett Square: Trash pick up moved to Wednesday.
East Brandywine: Trash pick up moved to Wednesday.
East Bradford: Trash pick up moved to Saturday.
East Caln: Trash pick up canceled this week.
East Fallowfield: Trash pick up moved to Saturday.
East Goshen: Shifted by one day through the week, beginning Tuesday for Monday customers.
Easttown: Trash pick up moved to Tuesday.
Elverson: Trash pick up moved to Wednesday.
Sadsbury: Shifted by one day through the week
Spring City: Trash and recycling delayed until Tuesday and Wednesday.
Upper Uwchlan: Trash and recycling for Monday will be delayed until at least Tuesday, but the township may have further updates.
Uwchlan: Trash pick up moved to Wednesday.
West Chester: Shifted by one day through the week.
West Goshen: No collection Monday; the township will provide updates on collection for Tuesday.
West Whiteland: Trash pick up moved to Wednesday.
Westtown: Shifted by one day through the week, beginning Tuesday for Monday customers and Friday for Thursday customers.
Three people die while shoveling snow in Lehigh County
In Lehigh County, about 60 miles northwest from Philly, at least three people died on Sunday attempting to clear snow, said the Lehigh County Coroner’s Office and Forensics Center in a statement Monday.
The National Weather Service recorded 11.8 inches of snow at the Lehigh Valley International Airport over the weekend.
The three who died ranged in age from 60 to 84, according to the statement. All were shoveling snow or using another method to remove snow before experiencing a medical emergency.
The coroner’s office isn’t disclosing more information about the people who died out of respect for the families, Coroner Daniel Buglio said in the statement.
Miguel Estevez with Independent Construction clears the steps in the East Falls section of Philadelphia Monday. Connor Phan gets a start digging his car out. Residents begin to dig out on Calumet Street near Ridge Avenue Monday.
// Timestamp 01/26/26 8:28am
More cancellations at PHL
Crews deice a Delta plane as snow falls at Philadelphia International Airport Sunday.
At least 134 flights have been canceled going into or out of Philadelphia International Airport Monday, an improvement from the 641 flights canceled during Sunday’s storm.
The airport also reopened all its security checkpoints Monday morning, according to a spokesperson. American Airlines is asking its passengers to use A-West, B-C and F ticketing Monday. A-East is closed for American passengers only.
Across the country, more than 1,000 flights have been canceled Monday, according to Flight Aware, with airports near New York City and the Washington, D.C., experiencing the brunt of the delays.
Travelers are encouraged to check with their airlines for the latest flight information.
A trash truck with plow clearing Midvale Avenue in the East Falls section of Philadelphia Monday.
Trash and recycling collections are suspended in Philadelphia on Monday. Collections will be one day behind for the rest of the week.
Areas of the city that receive two trash collections per week, like Center City, South Philadelphia, and North Philadelphia, will only have one this week. Residents should expect collection delays as the crews navigate the snow and ice.
Residents who can’t wait until collection to hold their trash can drop them off at one of the city’s six sanitation convenience centers, open Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
SEPTA riders board the 47 bus at Eighth and Market Streets Sunday.
After shutdowns across the system Sunday, SEPTA said it planned to gradually restore service Monday.
Service on all Regional Rail, bus, Access, and Metro routes T and G remained suspended Monday morning.
When it is safe to do so, Regional Rail will operate on a Saturday schedule, while bus and Metro will operate on a Monday schedule.
PATCO trains are operating on a delayed snow schedule Monday, with service every 15 to 20 minutes.
NJ Transit service on all light rail systems resumed Monday morning. The agency planned to gradually ramp up bus and Access Link service throughout the day, as road conditions allow.
Pedestrians try to navigate Gay Street as snow falls in West Chester, Pa. Sunday.
It officially snowed 9.3 inches in Philadelphia, according to the National Weather Service.
The service said 9.1 inches of snow and sleet was topped with an additional 0.2 inches overnight. That’s officially the most snow to drop in Philadelphia since a January 2016 blizzard, which dropped 22.4 inches onto the city.
Allentown ended with 11.8 inches, while Trenton ended up with 8.9 inches.
Here are totals from across the region as of 8 p.m. Sunday, so they don’t include whatever was added by freezing rain overnight.
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Snow-covered cars line Cresson Street in the East Falls section of Philadelphia on Monday.
Across the Philadelphia region, the ground remains covered with a mixture of snow and sleet, all given a shiny finish with some overnight freezing rain.
The melt is going to take its good old time.
Temperatures Monday are expected to be in the upper 20s, with wind chills making it feel at times closer to 0 degrees.
Then, it’s going to turn colder.
Highs in Philly will struggle to reach 20 degrees Tuesday through Saturday, with overnight lows in the single digits.
“We’re going to have a rather glacial snowpack for the foreseeable future,” said Alex Staarmann, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mount Holly.
The next several days should be dry, said Tom Kines, senior meteorologist with AccuWeather. Some talk is brewing about a storm threat late next weekend or early in the week, but that can wait for another day.
All things considered, a trauma-free snow day in Philly
David Friedman (center) pulls his sons Noah, 5, (left) and Zachary, 3, after they went sledding at the Society Hill Towers Sunday.
For the abject unpleasantness of the weather Sunday, the region for the most part appeared to be trauma-free.
That probably had something to do with the fact that it was indeed, Sunday,and that the storm may have set an unofficial record for a pre-event drumbeat.
Computers had been on to something big happening for about a week, at one point suggesting historic amounts of snow for Philly. The anticipation and anxiety evidently were major boons to local supermarkets — where carb shortages and human stampedes were reported — and hardware stores.
In the end, the storm did unfold pretty much as the late-week forecasts suggested, with a thump of heavy snow in the morning with several inches accumulating.
One not-so-mild surprise was the cold, with temperatures during the day Sunday several degrees below forecasts.
The cold had a benefit: It resulted in a dry, powdery snow, said Tom Kines, senior meteorologist with AccuWeather. That robbed the region of that postcard look as the moderate winds were able to shake it off the trees, but it also reduced the power-outage potential.
For those who have endured long power outages, it very likely was worth the aesthetic deprivation.
When the snow turned to sleet during the late morning, temperatures were still in the teens, and the ice balls accumulated on the snowpack, adding unwanted weight.
The ice also will add endurance to the snowpack, meteorologists said. Snowflakes can out-melt ice anyway. So forget the yard work for a while.
// RelatedLink Text: Top January storms URL: https://www.inquirer.com/weather/philadelphia-snow-top-10-january-snowfall-totals-snowstorms-history-20260124.html
Hours of percussive sleet layered a nasty icing on Philadelphia’s biggest snowfall in 10 years Sunday, and it may be some time before bare ground resurfaces in the region, if not normality.
“We’re going to have a rather glacial snowpack for the foreseeable future,” said Alex Staarmann, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mount Holly.
This is not the stuff of postcards.
Michael Thompson (right) and Jonathan Ahmad clear snow Sunday in Old City.
Officially 9.1 inches of snow was measured at the unusually quiet Philadelphia International Airport, with similar amounts reported at some locations in the neighboring counties, as temperatures were stuck in the teens around Philly. Skippack, Montgomery County, reported just over a foot. For Philly, it also was a record for a Jan. 25.
Late in the morning, the snow flipped over to sleet, which continued in the evening and added to accumulations through the region, including an additional 2.5 inches at the weather service Mount Holly office.
Sleet — liquid that freezes before it lands — counts as snow in official measurements. In some places it fell at the rate of 0.5 inch an hour, the weather service said, an extraordinary rate for sleet.
And shovelers beware: That mess may weigh as much as a foot or more of pure snow. Besides, we may be out of practice. This was the most snow since the 22.4 inches of Jan. 22-23, 2016.
Along with sleet, some freezing rain — liquid that freezes on contact with a surface — was possible Sunday night, said Nick Guzzo, meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Mount Holly.
However, only scattered power outages, a function of the unusual behavior of a potent but peculiar storm that wrought a familiar set of disruptions and inconveniences.
At the airport, 651 of 672 flights were canceled Sunday, said spokesperson Heather Redfern, with the last departure at 10:30 a.m.
SEPTA suspended Regional Rail and bus service at 2 p.m. Sunday. Schools decided preemptively to close on Monday. Speeds were reduced on highways. Mayor Cherelle L. Parker advised everyone to stay in their houses and out of their cars.
Luis Nova digs his car out of his plowed-in space in an otherwise empty parking lot at the Westmont PATCO station in Haddon Township onSunday. Nova left his car there last Friday, and was in Philadelphia all weekend helping friends move and going to a goodbye party. He spent the morning sledding with friends in Clark Park in West Philadelphia, Nova said. “I knew what I was signing up for and was ready. I left all my equipment to get myself out. I spent four years in Rochester [New York] so I have a little experience with this. The only thing I’m missing is the kitty litter I usually keep in case I have to put it under the tires.”
Malls and other businesses called it a day. Blue Mountain decided to suspend ski operations until Monday at noon — and when was the last time a ski outfit shut down because of snow, of all things?
All things considered, a trauma-free day
For the abject unpleasantness of the weather Sunday, the region for the most part appeared to be trauma-free.
That probably had something to do with the fact that it was indeed, Sunday,and that the storm may have set an unofficial record for a pre-event drumbeat.
Computers had been on to something big happening for about a week, at one point suggesting historic amounts of snow for Philly. The anticipation and anxiety evidently were major boons to local supermarkets — where carb shortages and human stampedes were reported — and hardware stores.
In the end, the storm did unfold pretty much as the late-week forecasts suggested, with a thump of heavy snow in the morning with several inches accumulating.
One not-so-mild surprise was the cold, with temperatures during the day Sunday several degrees below forecasts.
The cold had a benefit: It resulted in a dry, powdery snow, said Tom Kines, senior meteorologist with AccuWeather. That robbed the region of that postcard look as the moderate winds were able to shake it off the trees, but it also reduced the power-outage potential.
For those who have endured long power outages, it very likely was worth the aesthetic deprivation.
When the snow turned to sleet during the late morning, temperatures were still in the teens, and the ice balls accumulated on the snowpack, adding unwanted weight.
The ice also will add endurance to the snowpack, meteorologists said. Snowflakes can out-melt ice anyway. So forget the yard work for a while.
The sleet was likely to yield to freezing rain Sunday evening along and near the I-95 corridor, the weather service said, perhaps adding up to 0.2 inches of ice, especially south and east of the city.
The precipitation was due to shut off during the early-morning hours of Monday. Then, the melt is going to take its good old time.
Temperatures Monday are expected to be in the upper 20s.
Then, it’s going to turn colder.
Highs in Philly will struggle to reach 20 Tuesday through Saturday, with overnight lows in the single digits.
The next several days should be dry, said Kines. Some talk is brewing about a storm threat late next weekend or early in the week, but that can wait for another day.
Staff writer Michael Klein contributed to this article.
