Was it a snow job?
Don't ask me. I'm not a meteorologist. I don't even play one on TV. I just rant about the weather in this blog.
First a confession. I hate winter. And I hate the way we focus on winter weather only slightly less.
Having said that, don't look for me to be wringing my hands over what did or did not happen in the forecast yesterday.
While "Stella" - and who the hell ever thought naming winter storms was a good idea? - certainly created a mess, she did not deliver the "snowmageddon" many had feared.
It's all about computer models and a wobbling snow-rain line.
Here's what I know, because I heard it with my own ears and saw it with my own eyes.
The dead quiet that usually accompanies a big winter storm gave way early yesterday morning to the pinging sound of sleet and ice pellets on the windows.
That gush of warm air moved farther than expected, leading to many areas getting more sleet, freezing rain and ice than snow.
Most areas in the Philly region got only a fraction of the paralyzing amounts that were originally feared.
Not until you got up toward Allentown and the Poconos - and since when did they become part of the infamous "northern and western suburbs?" - did you find serious snow accumulations, up to a foot.
That did not mean what we got was any less of a mess, it was just a lot less snow than expected.
Schools, government and businesses still shut down. And probably rightly so. That thin covering of snow was quickly topped off with a coating of ice that made getting around yesterday morning a mess.
Shoveling this mess was almost as dangerous. It was a heavy, wet slop that left its telltale mark on my back. Yes, I am feeling it this morning.
But by early afternoon, the roads were eminently passable, at least the main thoroughfares. Some side roads remain a mess.
Stella is gone, but winter is still with us.
It's frigid out there this morning. All that glop has now likely again frozen solid.
Bottom line: Stella cut us a break, failing to deliver the paralyzing snow many had feared.
You'll get no complaints from me.
On with spring.
Get the full forecast here.
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