Third snowfall in a week brings city less than expected

It wasn't weather you wanted to be out in, but the Philadelphia area was spared the worst of the third snowstorm in a week.

During the evening, sleet and freezing rain made for slick roads and dodgy driving conditions, particularly in the Pennsylvania suburbs.

Earlier in the day, fast-falling flakes swirled around the crowd at the Army-Navy Game, which kicked off at 3 p.m. Saturday, and one to three inches of snow was predicted for Philadelphia and southeast of the city, according to the National Weather Service.

The Lehigh Valley and areas to the northwest were expected to get a heftier four to eight inches.

By late afternoon, the snow had already turned to rain in parts of central and South Jersey.

In Philadelphia and the areas closest to it, the snow began changing to sleet and freezing rain by early evening, making for rough driving conditions in some areas, including parts of Montgomery, Chester and Bucks Counties. Cars skidded on ice, hitting each other or landing in ditches.

Mitchell Gaines, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said the precipitation would taper off to rain, with the temperature rising overnight into the mid-30s. Colder conditions were forecast for the Lehigh Valley and the northwest.

Pennsylvania Department of Transportation crews were out much of the day, salting and preparing for the storm.

"We're expecting to have our crews out most of the night," spokesman Brad Rudolph said.

He said a minor accident was reported in the Phoenixville area, but the Philadelphia area's dose of the storm was not as bad as some earlier forecasts had predicted.

"It was supposed to roll in a lot earlier and last longer," he said.

Still, as the evening wore on, county radio dispatchers in the Pennsylvania suburbs reported quite a few cars skidding on ice and requiring assistance.

Amtrak spokeswoman Vernae Graham said a fallen tree on tracks stopped a train out of Lynchburg, Va., bound for New York in midafternoon. The train was going to be rerouted to Washington, and passengers sent to their destinations from there, she said. There were no other major delays, she said.

At Philadelphia International Airport, "we did have about 10 canceled flights as a result of the storm," and delays were averaging about an hour, spokeswoman Victoria Lupica said.

Elsewhere, it was worse. Airlines canceled about 940 flights because of the storm, mostly in the Northeast and Midwest. Hundreds of flights into and out of Newark, N.J., and Chicago's O'Hare were canceled.

"It's a pretty bad day for Newark," said Mark Duell, spokesman for FlightAware, a website that tracks commercial airlines.

Up to a foot of snow was predicted for New England, as well as a half-foot in Ohio.

Peco Energy Co. had about 200 storm-related outages, a small number considering the utility's 1.6 million customers, spokesman Fred Maher said.

The storm was less than some Army fans had hoped for. Several thought the snow might help Army end its 11-year losing streak.

"We figure the snow will work to our advantage," West Point cadet Brad Wagner said.

But it was not to be. Navy won, 34-7.