"It will continue to more or less lightly snow for the next few hours," Meola said at 6:45 p.m. "There is still some snow off to our west. It doesn’t look like heavy snow."
Slow driving conditions across the Philadelphia region led to long rush hour commutes home. Across the entire state, PennDOT reported on its website numerous reductions in the speed limit to 45 miles per hour because of conditions from a winter storm dubbed "Khan" by the Weather Channel.
The snow was a peak-commute special, with the steadiest and heaviest snow falling across the region between 4 and 6 p.m. As the weak storm pulled away and re-developed off the coast, snowfall all but shut off in the immediate Philadelphia area by 7 p.m.
Since the atmosphere was icy cold, the snowflakes looked like flakes of Waterford crystal and behaved like popcorn, with amounts belying the paltry precipitation totals. Only 0.05 inches of precipitation was measured at Pottstown, and less than that at Philadelphia International Airport.
Yet snow amounts generally were in the 1 to 2 inch range, with just over 3 inches reported in King of Prussia.
The 1.5 reported officially from the Philadelphia measuring station (actually, National Park, N.J.) made this the biggest snow of the season, topping the 1.4 recorded on Monday. The seasonal total stands at 4 inches, the same as the entire 2011-12 winter total. The heftiest amounts were reported in Montgomery County, with 3.2 in King of Prussia, and 3 in Wynnewood.
Low temps tonight should bottom out around 19 degrees. Tomorrow expect partly cloudy skies with a high of 30.
Inquirer staff writer Tony Wood contributed to this report.
Contact Brian X. McCrone at 215-854-2267 or bmccrone@philly.com. Follow @brianxmccrone on Twitter.
