Winter storm is a washout, but rain and freezing temps still on the way

After days of preparing for snow, the latest forecast for the Philadelphia area shows mostly rain, with little if any snow expected to fall in the region.

Local residents could still see some snowfall, said Alex Staarmann, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Mount Holly, but less than an inch of accumulation was expected.

“It won’t be anything significant,” he said.

Instead rain will move in overnight, possibly heavy at times and continuing into Sunday morning, and the weather service has issued a flood watch for the Philadelphia metro area.

Following the rain, temperatures are expected to plummet over Sunday night into Monday morning. The cold weather could lead to flash freezing from the moisture on the ground, Staarmann said.

Monday will bring sunshine, and temperatures could fall into single digits with winds gusting past 30 mph and below-zero wind chills. Temperatures are expected to top out in only the teens, Staarmann said.

The winter storm may be on track to miss the Philadephia region, but it swept across the Midwest on Saturday, dumping 10 inches of snow in some areas and prompting the cancellation of nearly 1,000 flights at Chicago’s airports, according to the Associated Press. Earlier Saturday, a United Airlines plane carrying 129 people skidded from an icy runway at O’Hare as it arrived from Phoenix. No injuries were reported.

Amtrak canceled some weekend trains from Chicago to Washington and New York, as well as some between New York and Boston and Pennsylvania.

The storm moved from the Dakotas across the Great Lakes states, bringing snow, ice, and strong winds, followed by deep cold. The highest snowfall totals were expected in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, which could see up to 18 inches.

Following the storm system, some areas of the Midwest were expecting high winds and bitter cold.