School delays, no closings, as weather warms

Some schools north of Philadelphia were opening two hours late, and PECO was reporting scattered power outages in the suburbs this morning, because of the storm that began bringing doses of snow, sleet and ice to the region yesterday.

Roads this morning were mostly wet, according to county dispatchers.

The school delays were mostly in counties to the north of Philadelphia - Bucks, Berks and Lehigh Counties.

Among the Bucks County schools reportedly opening late this morning were Faith Christian Academy in Sellersville, St. Isidore School in Quakertown, Quakertown Christian School, Plumstead Christian School, Upper Bucks Christian School in Sellersville, and Upper Bucks Technical School in Perkasie.

Almost all of the other delays were farther north - in the areas around Reading, Nazareth, Kutztown, Easton, Bethlehem and Allentown.

Hundreds, not thousands, of homes lost power in the Philadelphia region, said PECO spokesman Michael Wood.

"The number isn't very high, but we have plenty to keep ourselves busy," he said.

"We have scattered outages throughout our territory, primarily in the suburbs," said PECO's Cameron Kline.

Wind and rain were mostly to blame, he said.

Ice was also a problem in Bucks County, a dispatcher said.

"We do have some problems with ice on tree limbs and we're getting some power outages," he said, adding that Northampton Township and Upper Southampton Township were among the areas affected.

Emergency dispatchers for Montgomery and Chester Counties reported no serious problems overnight.

Philadelphia and South Jersey saw some flakes and sleet, but temperatures stayed high enough overnight to avoid serious problems with freezing rain.

By midmorning, rising temperatures will have ended the threats of light freezing rain in the suburban counties, according to an advisory from the National Weather Service.

Farther north, the threat could last into early afternoon.

Philadelphia's highs for the next three days should be in the mid 40s.

For more on the forecast, go to http://go.philly.com/weather.