Snow: Equinox arrives . . . or was that winter solstice?

Pay no attention to all that snow on the lawn or the car roof. Officially, meteorologically, and astronomically, winter truly is over.

Given that the region has just been creamed with up to six inches of snow, and in deference to the first full day of spring, we'll hold off on mentioning what happened in April 100 years ago.

For now, if you give the spring sun a few hours Saturday, you probably won't have to do much shoveling. Gary Szatkowski, meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, has promised it will all be gone by day's end.

And although temperatures will stay well below normal for the next few days, no more snow is in the forecast.

Close to seven inches was reported in parts of Montgomery County, and totals of four to six were common throughout the region, from Friday's daylong heavy, wet snow. For Philadelphia, it was the season's second-biggest snowfall.

Coincidentally, it backed off just in time for the arrival of spring, at 6:45 p.m.

A slick slurry of slush caused traffic jam-ups during the homeward commute, including a nasty one on Matsonford Road in Lower Merion Township, and SEPTA had to detour a couple of bus routes.

Some flights at Philadelphia International Airport were delayed for up to two hours.

But beyond a certain seasonal inappropriateness, this one was gentler than some previous storms with lesser snow amounts - and blessedly free of ice. Peco reported no outage problems.

Fortunately, the snow fell during daylight hours, and although the sun wasn't the star, its power did help melt snow on the roads as temperatures remained close to or slightly above freezing.

March 20 is decidedly late for a major snowfall. However, in records dating to 1885, measurable snow has fallen in Philadelphia on or after March 20 in about half the years.

As for the aforementioned 1915, 19.4 inches fell on April 3 and 4, a rarity in league with the Phillies' reaching the World Series that year.