Philly Marks Second Snowiest Winter On Record
By Kate Bilo
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- It's St. Patrick's Day and three days away from spring, but after enjoying mild and pleasant weekend weather, winter reminded us of its wrath this morning with yet another "upside-down" storm that delivered heavy snow, especially to the shore points and portions of Delaware.
4.5" of snow fell today at the airport, making it the snowiest St. Patrick's Day ever. The previous snowiest St. Pat's was all the way back in 1892 when 3.5" of snow fell.
In addition to that, we have now achieved another dubious milestone this winter. With 67.4" of snow this season, it's now the second snowiest winter ever here in Philadelphia. One of the most interesting parts of that record is that we got there without a huge snowstorm. Our biggest storm of the season at the airport, our official reporting station, was 13.5". The previous season to hold the #2 spot, 1995-1996, featured Philadelphia's biggest storm ever, the Blizzard of '96, which dropped 30.2" on the city, and the current #1 year, 2009-2010, features the storm in early February 2010 that brought 28.5".
WATCH: Kate Bilo With The Latest On Snow Conditions
This season has been all about the sheer NUMBER of winter weather events, 16 storms that battered us over and over throughout the winter.
There is some good news in the forecast. Temperatures will warm a bit through the rest of the week, and precipitation-wise, we're just seeing the chance for rain showers late Wednesday. We'll enjoy highs in the mid-50's Thursday for the start of spring and Friday for March Madness, and the sun will make an appearance as well!
The question is -- are we through with winter weather for good? We'll have to get back to you on that. There are still some signals that the pattern heading into April could turn colder and more volatile.
