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Snow pushes back school openings; that's it for now

Snow spread across the region Wednesday night and left up to 2 inches; scores of school reported late openings.

Another decorative snow fell overnight.
Another decorative snow fell overnight.Read moreStaff Photo

Scores of schools, mostly in Bucks, Chester, and Montgomery Counties, reported late openings Thursday, a modest holiday gift to thousands of students courtesy of the overnight snowfall.

The second decorative snow of the young season left 1 to 2 inches in the immediate Philadelphia area, with a little more to the north.

The fast-moving clipper storm is gone, and save for a remote threat on Friday, no new snow is in the forecast, and even in its pre-solstice weakening state, the sun should make quick work of what's out there now.

Officially, 1.4 inches was measured at Philadelphia International Airport, bringing the seasonal total to 5.5; the average for entire December is just over 3.

It is impossible to know whether this is going to be one of those winters when the atmosphere would tend to err on the side of snow.

But it's looking like one of those Decembers.

The 4.1 inches at the airport on Saturday was exceptional in at least one respect: It represented only the fifth time in the last 50 years that a snowfall of 4 inches or more had occurred by Dec. 9 in Philly.

"We're definitely off to an active start," said Mitchell Gaines, a National Weather Service meteorologist in the Mount Holly office.