January 22, 2024: The scene in South Jersey as a snow drought ends with the first significant snowfall in 716 days.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
As much as we newspaper photographers like to complain about being sent out to make “wild art” or weather photos, most of us do enjoy the change of seasons - and that first snowfall.
For us here in the Philadelphia region, it has almost been two years since we’ve had any measurable snow. The city’s official measuring station at the airport recorded 3.3 inches of accumulating snow on Tuesday last week, ending a 716-day snow-less streak.
We enthusiastically went out and photographed it.
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A pedestrian walks on Market Street Bridge from Penn’s Landing toward Second Street in Old City. The bridge was not plowed because there is no vehicle traffic on it since the Chestnut Street Bridge closed the day before (Jan. 15) for a couple of years as the $329 million I-95 CAP project continues to create green space along the Delaware River waterfront. SEPTA bus routes are also affected. PennDOT says, “Access to Penn’s Landing and the waterfront will remain open to pedestrians by using the Market Street bridge from 2nd Street.”Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Southbound traffic on I-95 by Penn’s Landing is stopped and backed by a snowplow train (not shown) that was blocking all lanes. There is no northbound traffic (right) because at same time there was a brief stoppage to clear an accident by the Walt Whitman Bridge. Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Ann Murphy cleans the snow from the rear-view mirror of her car following overnight snow, in Nether Providence Township.Read moreJose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
Pedestrians walk along snow-covered grounds at Eakins Oval.Read moreJose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
Christopher Bendle shovels snow and ice on the 1100 block of Dorrance Street in the Point Breeze section of Philadelphia. The Philadelphia airport recorded 3.3 inches of snow, the National Weather Service says, ending the 716-day snow-less streak. “I’m originally from Australia so snow is still a bit of a novelty,” Bendle said.Read moreMonica Herndon / Staff Photographer
A cyclist passes Chew Park in the Point Breeze section of Philadelphia.Read moreMonica Herndon / Staff Photographer
A man during a run on a trail along Kelly Drive on a snowy morning in Philadelphia.Read moreTyger Williams / Staff Photographer
Brentley Long, 8, of Fishtown, hands Sean Beuche, of Northern Liberties, snow to add to their snowman near the Philadelphia Museum of Art.Read moreTyger Williams / Staff Photographer
Snow slowly melts on top of the nine-foot bronze statue of Benjamin Franklin at Girard Fountain Park.Read moreJose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
Snow covered tree along East Allegheny Avenue in Port Richmond after the region's historic snowless streak ended.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
The snow has turned to rain, along Aramingo Avenue in Port Richmond.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Ava Johnson,10, builds a snowperson in Port Richmond’s Campbell Square. She was hoping to make a traditional three-sections figure, but it took her longer than she thought to roll up the big bottom snowball. Plus, she said, "there are too many leaves.”Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Alyssa Johncola clears snow off her car on East Allegheny Avenue in Port Richmond. She only just recently started working as a gig driver while looking for full-time employment, and “since a lot of people don’t want to go out today, this is good luck for me.” She said she was also taking advantage of bonus incentives as a new driver for a grocery delivery business.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
The snow on a car windshield has turned to ice in Port Richmond.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Dennis Parisano clears snow from the sidewalk near a Compact Disc Outlet music store in Norwood.Read moreJose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
A woman wipes snow off of a trash container at a bus stop before jumping on #27 SEPTA bus at 15th and Market Street in Center City.Read moreAlejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
Bicycle rack birds feeding in the snow beside 2 Penn Center in Center City.Read moreAlejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
Park and Recreation employees removing snow from around LOVE Park at 15th and JFK Blvd in Center City.Read moreAlejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
Pedestrians crossing a snowy intersection at 16th and Market Street in Center City.Read moreAlejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
Workers removing snow from plaza at 2 Penn Center in Center City Philadelphia.Read moreAlejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
That storm was followed by another, with even more snow just three days later.
Sadia Afreen (right) and Shirin Akhter enjoy the snow fall while playing on swings connected to trees at Wood Street Park in the Old City neighborhood on Friday, January 19, 2024.Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer
Lena Etienne, of Constitution Cannoli King in Old City, stands outside as snow falls.Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer
A view of snow falling on City Hall.Read moreJessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
Customers sit inside Menagerie Coffee while snow falls in Old City.Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer
Connor Hornibrook (center right), and his dog Ellie (center left) are out enjoying the snow, along with Annette Fierro and her dog Twyla at Rittenhouse Square.Read moreTyger Williams / Staff Photographer
Jennifer Breslow (not pictured) is out with her son Arlo Dalili, as he makes snow angels at Rittenhouse Square.Read moreTyger Williams / Staff Photographer
Greg Garland works clearing the walk by his house on Harvard Ave. in Swarthmore.Read moreCharles Fox / Staff Photographer
The walkway leading under the Swarthmore SEPTA station along Chester Road is cleared on Jan. 19, 2024.Read moreCharles Fox / Staff Photographer
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker (center) at podium with Managing Director Adam Thiel (right) and Carlton Williams, director of Clean & Green Initiatives, and Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel share the city’s response to snow storm.Read moreAlejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
A SEPTA bus heads to Penn's Landing, as a PennDot plow truck loads up on salt on Hunting Park Avenue near Wissahickon on Friday morning.Read moreAlejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
Joggers along Kelly Drive in Philadelphia on Friday morning.Read moreAlejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
A commuter catches the SEPTA R bus at Ridge Avenue and Midvale in East Falls.Read moreAlejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
A plastic flamingo sits covered with snow at Franklin Square Park on Friday.Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer
Pedestrian walk past the YO sign at the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History.Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer
A visitor to the Independence Visitor Center uses an umbrella to cover from the snow.Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer
People gather at the Belmont Plateau to sled down the hill on a snowy day in West Philadelphia.Read moreTyger Williams / Staff Photographer
A maintenance worker clears the sidewalk of snow on the 300 block of New Street in Old City.Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer
Crews shovel the walkways along the train tracks at the Wallingford SEPTA station.Read moreCharles Fox / Staff Photographer
Snow lines the branches of trees as a pedestrian makes their way along Chester Road in Swarthmore.Read moreCharles Fox / Staff Photographer
Katie Rouse walks her dogs Gandalf and Frank along Cornell Ave. in Swarthmore.Read moreCharles Fox / Staff Photographer
Flor Bautista, left, and Yanira Cifuentes, right, take a photo in the snow in front of City Hall.Read moreJessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
Beverly Martin on 2nd avenue shovels and start to dig out of the 6 inch snowfall in Phoenixville.Read moreSteven M. Falk / Staff Photographer
A cyclist rides along North 4th Street under the Vine Street Expressway.Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer
Jim Kohns brooms his car and starts to dig out in Phoenixville on Friday.Read moreSteven M. Falk / Staff Photographer
A dog walker enters Wood Street Park as snow falls in the Old City neighborhood.Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer
A pedestrian walks past the cross at the St. Augustine's Roman Catholic Church.Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer
Snow sits on the sculpture of Washington Crossing the Delaware at the Museum of the American Revolution in Old City.Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer
The walkway at Swarthmore College is cleared.Read moreCharles Fox / Staff Photographer
Two doe brave the 6 inch snowfall in Phoenixville along Clover Mill Rd.Read moreSteven M. Falk / Staff Photographer
Julie Prante, 8, of Gloucester Township sleds with friends at the Gloucester Township Community Park in Gloucester Township, N.J. on Friday night.Read moreElizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
After a few days off I was back out looking for weather on Sunday. It was plenty of cold, but the sun was shining through a bright blue sky, melting and freezing the ice and snow on rooftops into dripping icicles — these in Cherry Hill, N.J.
Certainly most of the snow will be all gone soon, but as The Inquirer’s Anthony R. Wood says, “that’s all part of nature’s magical vanishing act.”
Since 1998, a black-and-white photo has appeared every Monday in staff photographer Tom Gralish’s “Scene Through the Lens” photo column in The Inquirer’s local news section. Here are the most recent, in color:
