The storm that hit Philadelphia Sunday brought with it 9.3 inches of snow for the city proper — the most we’ve seen at one time in a decade. And while that really sells the wintery vibe — especially when combined with the bitter cold we’re experiencing — cleanup efforts are ongoing.
Highways and public transportation in the region are largely restored, but some city streets remain packed with snow and ice. City school buildings Wednesday were in their third day of snow-related closures. And we might even be looking at more snow to come.
Here is what you need to know:
Roads (mostly) cleared
PennDot’s vehicle and speed restrictions have been lifted on all interstates and major highways across the Philadelphia region, as were those on state roads in New Jersey. But street plowing in the city remains a work in progress.
Residents from around the city told The Inquirer many side streets and some secondary streets remained coated in several inches of snow and ice, making traveling on them difficult or impossible. Data from PlowPHL, a service that tracks plow movement, indicated Tuesday that roughly a quarter of city streets had not received any snow treatment since the storm.
Parking enforcement resumes
The Philadelphia Parking Authority reopened its offices Wednesday, and began on-street parking enforcement for safety violations including parking in bus zones and in front of fire hydrants. The 24-hour $5 emergency garage parking rate was also rescinded, with PPA garages returning to their usual rates, the authority said.
Public transit resuming
SEPTA on Monday restored all of its subway, trolley, and suburban trolley services, and as of Wednesday was running Regional Rail lines on their normal weekday schedules. Bus service, SEPTA notes online, is largely operational, though several routes remain suspended due to road conditions.
Among the suspended buses Wednesday were routes 3, 5, 40, 41, and 115, according to the agency’s alerts page. The suspended routes, SEPTA indicated, would be restored “once it is safe to do so.”
PATCO, meanwhile, returned to its normal weekday schedule Tuesday.
Airport operational
Philadelphia International Airport experienced hundreds of flight cancellations and delays due to the storm, but remained open despite the inclement weather, Parker said at a news conference this week.
As of early Wednesday afternoon, the airport had experienced about 87 delays and 57 cancellations, according to flight data tracking website FlightAware. On Monday, the day after the storm, there were 326 delays and 290 cancelations, followed by 255 delays and 156 cancelations Tuesday, FlightAware indicated.
Archdiocesan high schools and city parochial schools will also go back to in-person classes Thursday.
Students and staff who arrive late to class due to weather-related issued would not have their lateness counted against them, Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. said.
This week’s disruption to the usual school schedule had begun taking its toll on some parents. Outside the city, many suburban districts had already reopened by Wednesday.
More snow possible
Post-storm, the Philadelphia region faces frigid temperatures that are expected to remain well below freezing until at least Feb. 4. Highs were expected to top out around the teens, and lows consistently in the single digits — along with wind chills reaching down into the negatives.
And then, of course, there is the potential for more snow this weekend.
Forecasters said Wednesday that it remained unclear exactly what we should expect, but a major coastal storm is likely to appear during the weekend. Early computer models indicated that the system would remain far offshore enough to spare the Philadelphia area from major snowfall, but accumulation predictions remain in flux.
It is a sentiment long held by residents across Philadelphia, especially those living on side streets, dating back to when snowfall was a more frequent occurrence than it has been in recent years: Don’t expect the city to do a thorough plowing job.
That belief is one that Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker has said she is trying to shake with action.
Two days before a storm that whacked the city with 9.3 inches of snow and sleet, Parker, surrounded by the leaders of various agencies, including the Philadelphia Streets Department, vowed to buck precedent on the plowing issue.
“We will make every effort to get to every primary, secondary, and tertiary street in the city of Philadelphia, and that is our standard,” she said, adding it would take “as long as it takes,” citing worker safety.
“But know that we won’t leave any neighborhood, any block, or any community behind.”
Still, residents across the city Tuesday said they were losing patience as side streets and even some secondary streets remained packed with several inches of snow and ice, locking cars in and making navigating intersections impossible.
Fishtown resident Rohan Khadka, 22, was hoping plowing might happen overnight. Instead he woke up Tuesday to streets that were hard for him to cross even with the proper footwear.
“A lot of our roads down here look exactly the same,” he said. “Most of the cleanup that has happened, to my knowledge, has either been by other residents or just cars happening to clean it because they’re using those roads.”
A pedestrian walks through a snow-covered parking lot at Ninth and Arch Streets in Center City Philadelphia, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026.
Analysis of the City of Philadelphia’s PlowPHL data, which tracks the movement of plows via GPS data, showed that about a quarter of streets citywide had received no snow treatment at all — including salting or plowing — after the conclusion of the storm Sunday night.
Some areas were worse off than others.
In places like Overbrook and Wynnefield, the city had salted or plowed about 70% of streets by the end of Sunday morning, when the storm began. But the majority of streets in these neighborhoods received no additional plowing or salting since Sunday, according to city data.
The same was true for about a third of streets in South Philadelphia.
The streets department said Tuesday it was deploying over 200 vehicles and excavators as part of a so-called lifting operation. Fourteen teams were fanning across the city to scoop up snow from the narrow roads and load it into dump trucks on nearby primary streets.
The snow hauls were then being taken to storage sites across the city.
Director of Clean and Green Initiatives Carlton Williams drove through parts of South Philadelphia on Tuesday afternoon, as dozens of the side-street-size excavators made their way through the city’s narrowest byways.
“It is the smaller tertiary streets that are challenging,” he said. “There’s more of them. It’s difficult to navigate through those streets.”
As Williams passed a side street with several inches of snow packed, he noted a car illegally parked on the corner, which would make it difficult for machines to get through.
Williams said this storm came with additional challenges. Not only did the snow fall in a condensed period of time, but it was followed by sleet and frozen rain.
“We wouldn’t have many of the challenges that we’re facing today, slowdowns, if those other weather conditions beyond our control did not exist,” he said. “But again, I want to reassure the public that we’re aware. You see us out here today. We’ll be out here tomorrow, and we’ll continue to fight this storm.”
But for Philadelphians waiting for a plow, time is of the essence.
311 ringing off the hook
For Moya Ferenchak, 30, the effectiveness of the operation carries serious health implications. They started pet sitting on the 1500 block of South Capitol, a South Philly side street, for a friend last Tuesday, bringing exactly one week’s worth of food and lifesaving medication — more than they expected to need.
Ferenchak, who lives with a disability that causes limited mobility, cannot shovel. Calling a car not only is expensive but also would require Ferenchak to travel with all their belongings to an intersection that is not blocked by snow.
Adding to frustrations across the city were reports of inundated 311 phone lines.
“I called first thing this morning, and there was a 50-plus-person queue,” Ferenchak said. “Then I called again, and there was like a 70-plus-person queue. I waited for like an hour or so, and then it hung up on me.”
Alex Wiles of Philadelphia has been hustling during the recent snow, shoveling sidewalks and digging out cars. This photograph was taken along North Second Street near his home, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. He was heading to the bus for a trip to his next client.
The processing of online 311 tickets has also been a source of confusion for residents who wonder if they are being paid attention to. Williams said the complaints are populating a map used to direct plows to avoid redundancies.
“We’ll take that data and get it within the operation,” he said.
Some homes feel the impact more than others
On the 4800 block of Regent Street in West Philadelphia, Justin Rothrauff described the road as “treacherous” for the mix of families and older residents who live there.
“One of the big problems, besides the street not being plowed, is that the plowing that they have done on some of those primary roads has blocked the secondary and tertiary roads,” the 43-year-old teacher said, adding even if he could somehow get his car out of his block, he is not sure he would make it back in.
While Rothrauff had heard of people paying to have their roads shoveled, he feels no one should have to.
“I refuse to pay anyone money, I pay enough taxes in the city,” he said.
For some Philadelphians, some information could go a long way. A much-touted live map of plow operations has been reported for mistakenly listing some streets as plowed, according to the residents who live there.
Ken Wong shovels snow on Waverly Street, in Philadelphia, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026.
Krista Dedrick-Lai, 45, a South Philly resident, hopes the city will do more to tell people about plowing statuses, and explain why their streets are still covered in snow days after the storm, even if the answers are not what they are hoping to hear.
“Sometimes context can make everyone feel better,” she said, noting her block on Federal Street got a plow Monday and Tuesday, but the snow banks had blocked cars in.
Fortunately, she said, she and her husband have not needed to leave their house to work or to help their child learn through third-grade virtual learning modules.
Others, however, do not have that flexibility. Making matters worse, more snow may be on the horizon this weekend.
The Streets Department on Tuesday is removing snow that has piled up around City Hall, and the operation requires street closures on nearby blocks, the agency said.
With the region expected to remain in a prolonged deep freeze, there is no chance the snow piles will melt anytime soon. And weather forecasters say the region might be hit with another storm this weekend, so the city is eager to get rid of the existing snow.
The “lifting operation” includes the removal of snow using dozens of vehicles, including excavators and loaders, the department said Tuesday.
The city already has been conducting lifting operations in North Philadelphia, removing snow from Girard Avenue and nearby neighborhoods since Sunday evening, the department said.
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.
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.
Parts of Chester County saw more than a foot of snow, with the heavy snowfall delaying trash collections, closing municipal offices, and shuttering school buildings countywide Monday.
East Nantmeal saw some of the highest snow totals in the county — and the entire Philadelphia region —with 12.8 inches blanketing the township as of Monday morning, according to the National Weather Service. Malvern wasn’t far behind, with 12.5 inches. East Goshen racked up the lowest total reported in Chester County, sitting around 8. Chester County municipalities saw some of the highest snowfalls in the collar counties, and outdid Philadelphia, which topped out at 9.3 inches.
Mostof the region received between six and 12 inches by Sunday evening.
But even with the gradient of difference in Chesco, it was enough to close all school districts’ buildings in the county Monday. Some districts instituted flexible remote learning schedules. Others gravitated toward a traditional snow day.
“Students are officially expected to enjoy this winter wonderland — and take a well-deserved breather at the midpoint of our school year,” Kennett Consolidated School District wrote in a post on its website.
The districts hadn’t yet made their calls by noon Monday about returning to school for the rest of the week, but several said flexible instruction may be implemented if road conditions don’t improve.
As municipalities continue to plow streets, many are still calling for no street parking, with several offering free parking in borough lots or parking garages. Municipal meetings are also being rescheduled as residents continue to dig out.
Meanwhile, across the county, residents should expect their trash and recycling collection to follow a different schedule this week.
Here’s a look at the trash collection delays municipalities have advertised online:
Avondale: Trash pickup moved to Tuesday.
Caln: Shifted by one day through the week, beginning Tuesday for Monday customers.
Kennett Square: Trash pickup moved to Wednesday.
East Brandywine: Trash pickup moved to Wednesday.
East Bradford: Trash pickup moved to Saturday.
East Caln: Trash pickup canceled this week.
East Fallowfield: Trash pickup moved to Saturday.
East Goshen: Shifted by one day through the week, beginning Tuesday for Monday customers.
Easttown: Trash pickup moved to Tuesday.
Elverson: Trash pickup 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 pickup 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 pickup moved to Wednesday.
Westtown: Shifted by one day through the week, beginning Tuesday for Monday customers and Friday for Thursday customers.
A far-reaching winter storm blanketed the Mid-Atlantic in an icy brew of snow and sleet Sunday, with preliminary totals nearing a foot and a half in parts of New Jersey and New York.
Philadelphia International Airport received its biggest snow of the season, and in 10 years, with 9.3 inches of snow and ice recorded by 12 a.m., after precipitation ended, according to the National Weather Service.
Philadelphia ranked near the middle of the pack of regional totals. A survey of five regional National Weather Service offices showed PHL’s total ranked 496 of 923 storm total reports made by Monday morning.
The Philadelphia metropolitan region generally received between six and 12 inches of snow by Sunday evening, according to National Weather Service reports.
Among the highest totals outside of the city:
Malvern – 12.5 inches
East Nantmeal – 12.4 inches
Skippack – 12.2 inches
Gardenville – 12.0 inches
Pipersville – 11.8 inches
Farther north, as much as 17 inches of snow had fallen as by Monday morning in Stockholm, N.J. — part of Hardyston. Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., reported 7.8 inches of snow and ice as of the morning. New York City’s Central Park piled up 11.4 inches.
Use the map and chart below to find preliminary snow totals in your area. Hover over dots on the map to reveal more information, or search for Philadelphia-area totals below.
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Winter weather can upend even the best-laid travel plans, but one less thing to worry about is losing money if your flight is canceled: U.S. airlines are required to provide refunds.
A monster storm started to wreak havoc across parts of the country over the weekend, with 12,200 weekend flights and counting canceled. Forecasters warned that catastrophic damage, especially in areas pounded by ice, could rival that of a hurricane.
Here’s a guide for winter travelers as flight disruptions pile up:
Keep an eye on weather forecasts
When airlines expect bad weather to create problems for flights, they often give travelers a chance to postpone their trips by a few days without having to pay a fee. Search online for your airline’s name and “travel alerts” or similar phrases to look for possible rescheduling offers.
American Airlines, for example, said it is waiving change fees for passengers impacted by the storm and adding extra flights around the country in an effort to help passengers reach their destination after the storm passes.
Use the airline’s app to make sure your flight is still on before heading to the airport.
Cancellations can happen hours — or even days — before departure time. Consider American and Delta Air Lines: By midday Saturday, each carrier had canceled more than 1,000 of its scheduled Sunday flights, according to flight tracking site FlightAware.
Oklahoma’s largest airport suspended all flights Saturday, while Dallas–Fort Worth International Airport, a major hub, saw more than 700 departing flights canceled and nearly as many arriving flights called off. Flight disruptions also were stacking up at airports in Chicago; Atlanta; Nashville; and Charlotte, N.C.
Disruptions continued to intensify on Sunday.
My flight was canceled, now what?
If you’re already at the airport, get in line to speak to a customer service representative. If you’re still at home or at your hotel, call or go online to connect to your airline’s reservations staff. Either way, it helps to also research alternate flights while you wait to talk to an agent.
Most airlines will rebook you on a later flight for no additional charge, but it depends on the availability of open seats.
Snow is plowed in the East Falls section of Philadelphia on Monday.
Can I get booked on another airline?
You can, but airlines aren’t required to put you on another carrier’s flight. Some airlines, including most of the biggest carriers, say they can put you on a partner airline, but even then it can be a hit or miss.
Am I owed a refund?
If your flight was canceled and you no longer want to take the trip, or you’ve found another way to get to your destination, the airline is legally required to refund your money — even if you bought a non-refundable ticket. It doesn’t matter why the flight was canceled.
The airline might offer you a travel credit, but you are entitled to a full refund. You are also entitled to a refund of any bag fees, seat upgrades or other extras that you didn’t get to use.
When will I get my refund?
If you paid with a credit card, a refund is due within seven business days after you decline an offer from the airline for another flight or a voucher, and within 20 calendar days if you paid for the ticket with a check or cash, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
What else will my airline cover?
U.S. airlines aren’t required by the Transportation Department to compensate passengers for meals or lodging when an airline cancels or significantly delays a flight during an “uncontrollable” event like bad weather.
Each airline, however, does have its own policies for assisting passengers who are stranded by a so-called “controllable” flight cancellation or long delay. These include disruptions caused by maintenance issues, crew shortages, or computer outages that halt operations. The Transportation Department can hold airlines accountable for these commitments and maintains a website that lets travelers see what each airline promises if a major disruption is their fault.
Other tips
If the weather forecast is troubling, Kyle Potter, executive editor of Thrifty Traveler, suggests looking into booking a backup flight. Some airlines stand out as potential backups, Potter says, because they let customers get a full refund as long as they cancel within 24 hours of booking.
The customer service phone lines will be slammed if flight cancellations and delays start stacking up during a bad storm. If you’re traveling with someone who has a higher frequent-flyer status, call the airline using their priority number. Another trick: Look up the airline’s international support number. Those agents can often rebook you just the same.
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.
