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Snow-resistant Philadelphia

Snow continues to elude official ruler.

With snowfall at the rate of about an inch a day, the 1.2 inches from the Monday-Tuesday storm boosted Philadelphia's seasonal total to 4.3.

It thus inched past Wilmington, which recorded 0.5 inches for the storm, and now sits at 4.2 for the season.

But Philly continues to trail Atlantic City, 5.2, and Baltimore-Washington International Airport, 6.4.

This despite a month of well-above normal precipitation, below-normal temperatures, and ample storm opportunities.

Overall, this is becoming quite an eventful January, and certainly the most-eventful one we can recall with such paltry snow totals.

The snowfall pattern has been a mirror opposite of last winter's, when the official measuring station seemed to be a magnet for snow bands.

That was an uncanny development, given the location of the measuring station, which isn't exactly in the heart of snow belt.

The pattern this year has been more in keeping with what one might expect – less at "the airport" and more elsewhere.

Note that "airport" is in quotes. A colleague asked why we refer to official totals at Philadelphia International Airport/National Park.

As we've written, Philadelphia's snow actually is measured by a federal contractor across the river in National Park. That started in the winter of 2006-07.

For the previous six decades, it had been measured at the airport -- sometimes not very well evidently.

In the early days, snow could be measured on grass, but the airport became ever more paved over. Over time, the observers were forced to measure on a roof of a terminal building.

That became difficult when the snow wasn't sticking well or it was windy. Sometimes they estimated the snowfall by using a formula based on the temperature and the snow's liquid content.

The weather service now relies on automated measuring device for temperatures and other readings, but it can't measure snow.

Ultimately the agency decided to hire an observer who actually could stick a ruler into the snow.

It advertised for someone who lived near the airport and had measuring places away from trees and roofs and settled on candidate in National Park.

That's why when the weather service posts accumulation totals, the airport and National Park totals are always identical.

So far this winter, those totals have been mightily unimpressive.