Snow: "Penny" season continues
Another day, another decimal-point snow coming; meanwhile, Accu-Weather, Groundhog at odds
Incredibly, measureable snow has fallen on four consecutive days in Philadelphia, and later on this is likely to become the fifth.
Yet the grand total for the entire season at Philadelphia International Airport/National Park stands at 5.1 inches.
Most winters have their dominant characteristics, and as Gary Szatkowski at the National Weather Service in Mount Holly noted, this has been the season of the one-penny and two-penny snows.
That 5.1 inches has fallen in nine separate measureable events. Statistically, that's quite a feat.
We looked back at some of the other snow-starved winters in the period of record, dating to 1884, and couldn't find anything quite like this one.
The closest thing we saw was the 4.6 inches in six events in the winter of 1950-51.
The forecast calls for Event No. 10 tonight between 9 and midnight, with up to 0.5 inches possible, and perhaps some more tenths on top of that on Tuesday.
The systems have come through hurting for moisture, and only the high snow-to-liquid ratios have kept the totals from being even more pathetic.
Looking ahead, the best computer-model guesses are going with mostly rain for a storm on Friday, but the outcomes aren't at all certain.
Beyond that, a warm-up is likely, with temperatures heading well into the 40s Saturday and Sunday.
The Groundhog says we're home-free in terms of winter, with his shadow-less appearance on Saturday foreshadowing an early spring.
Accu-Weather's outlook, although short on details, indicated that wintry weather would linger into March in the Northeast.
Based on what we've seen so far this winter, we're not buying into any outlook.