Philly snow updates: City offices, school buildings closed Tuesday as snow emergency continues; updated snowfall totals; bitter cold ahead

For the Philly region Monday it wasn’t so much a matter of digging out from the heftiest snowfall in a decade, it was more like a chipping, shaving, scraping, expletive-inducing, and ice-chunk hurling operation.

Public transportation appeared to be getting back on track, and major roads were open for business with speed reductions removed, thanks to crews working through the weekend.

But expect some side streets in the city and elsewhere to remain fit for sleigh rides this week and trash pickup to be delayed. City offices will be shut down again Tuesday, as will Philly school buildings, with Camden and more calling for a snow day or opting for remote learning.

The snow may have stopped falling but officials in Philadelphia and New Jersey say the concerns over the extreme weather and impact on energy grids in the region remain.

The thousands who lost power during the snow storm in New Jersey had it restored by Monday, according to New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill.

She said the relative brevity of outages was due to utilities having workers at the ready “to make sure that if you lost power, they restored it as quickly as possible, knowing how cold it was going to get.”

As Philadelphia continues to dig its way out of the weekend winter storm that dropped more than 9 inches of snow on the city, officials are turning an eye to the frigid forecast that is expected to stick around until next week.

"If you don't have to go outside, do not. If you do not have to drive, please don't," Mayor Cherelle L. Park said at news conference Monday.

Parker's warning came amid the city's continued snow emergency that is to remain in effect until further notice. Streets Department workers are continuing snow-removal efforts, and had melted about 900 tons of snow with a snow melting machine over the past 10 hours, Parker said. But there was no timeline for the cleanup's completion, and it could be complicated by the cold weather, Carlton Williams, director of the Office of Clean and Green Initiatives.

Regional Rail service will resume Tuesday, SEPTA announced.

All trains will operate on a Saturday schedule as crews work to restore full service.

37 bus routes have been returned to full service, SEPTA General Manager Scott Sauer said during a news conference Monday.

Gov. Josh Shapiro lauded the efforts of PennDot workers during the weekend's storm at a Monday news conference, noting the department was "busy all across the commonwealth" due to the inclement weather hitting essentially all of Pennsylvania's 67 counties.

"Everybody felt an impact," Shapiro said. The widespread nature of the storm, he added, was an unusual element, with snow totals surpassing 12 inches in some areas of the state.

PennDot secretary Mike Carroll said the department's response to the storm was a team win, aided by agencies including the Pennsylvania State Police and Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.

The Cheltenham and Upper Darby school districts will have virtual instruction Tuesday, as officials said road conditions were still too poor following the storm.

"After consulting with my team, many roads remain unpassable and are likely to refreeze after dusk, making bussing on Tuesday too risky," Cheltenham Superintendent Brian Scriven told families in a message Monday afternoon.

In Upper Darby, Superintendent Dan McGarry told families Monday afternoon that "unfortunately, we are going to need another day to continue to remove snow and ice."

Will Philadelphia schools be in session Tuesday, or give students and staff another day to dig out of the significant snowfall dumped on the region this weekend?

Stay tuned.

All Philadelphia School District schools and offices are closed Monday. District officials said Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. “will be making an announcement” at a city press conference now scheduled for 3 p.m.

It was up to 27 degrees at noon at Philadelphia International Airport on Monday, but it looks like it’s not going to make it to 30, and this is going to be the warmest of the next several days.

In fact, temperatures may have trouble getting out of the teens until the weekend, and Philly has a shot at reaching zero for the first time in 30 years later in the week.

The forecast lows will be in the single digits all week, and down to 1 above on Friday, the National Weather Service says.

New Jersey achieved “black top” on all state highways and interstates Monday morning as crews continued to treat highways, according to New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill.

The New Jersey Turnpike, Garden State Parkway, and Atlantic City Expressway had also been cleared and will continue to be treated through the evening. Speed restrictions have been lifted.

But while the roads were no longer piled high with snow, Sherrill urged common sense for those who have to drive.

Anyone who has been out shoveling Monday can attest to the fact that not all snowfalls are created equal when it comes to getting their remains out of the way.

This one was especially challenging because it was chock full of ice chunks, the result of the harvest of sleet that feel after Sunday’s snow ended. Moving it required varying degrees of chipping, shaving, and boulder-hurling. Another challenge in this instance was the weight of it all.

Officially, 9.3 inches of snow was measured at Philadelphia International Airport, but given how much liquid was in the snowpack, the weight likely would have been similar to a snowfall of 12 to 15 inches of well-fluffed snow.

In Lehigh County, about 60 miles northwest from Philly, at least three people died on Sunday attempting to clear snow, said the Lehigh County Coroner’s Office and Forensics Center in a statement Monday.

The National Weather Service recorded 11.8 inches of snow at the Lehigh Valley International Airport over the weekend.

The three who died ranged in age from 60 to 84, according to the statement. All were shoveling snow or using another method to remove snow before experiencing a medical emergency.

At least 134 flights have been canceled going into or out of Philadelphia International Airport Monday, an improvement from the 641 flights canceled during Sunday's storm.

The airport also reopened all its security checkpoints Monday morning, according to a spokesperson. American Airlines is asking its passengers to use A-West, B-C and F ticketing Monday. A-East is closed for American passengers only.

Across the country, more than 1,000 flights have been canceled Monday, according to Flight Aware, with airports near New York City and the Washington, D.C., experiencing the brunt of the delays.

Trash and recycling collections are suspended in Philadelphia on Monday. Collections will be one day behind for the rest of the week.

Areas of the city that receive two trash collections per week, like Center City, South Philadelphia, and North Philadelphia, will only have one this week. Residents should expect collection delays as the crews navigate the snow and ice.

Residents who can’t wait until collection to hold their trash can drop them off at one of the city’s six sanitation convenience centers, open Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

After shutdowns across the system Sunday, SEPTA said it planned to gradually restore service Monday.

Service on all Regional Rail, bus, Access, and Metro routes T and G remained suspended Monday morning.

When it is safe to do so, Regional Rail will operate on a Saturday schedule, while bus and Metro will operate on a Monday schedule.

It officially snowed 9.3 inches in Philadelphia, according to the National Weather Service.

The service said 9.1 inches of snow and sleet was topped with an additional 0.2 inches overnight. That's officially the most snow to drop in Philadelphia since a January 2016 blizzard, which dropped 22.4 inches onto the city.

Allentown ended with 11.8 inches, while Trenton ended up with 8.9 inches.

Across the Philadelphia region, the ground remains covered with a mixture of snow and sleet, all given a shiny finish with some overnight freezing rain.

The melt is going to take its good old time.

Temperatures Monday are expected to be in the upper 20s, with wind chills making it feel at times closer to 0 degrees.

For the abject unpleasantness of the weather Sunday, the region for the most part appeared to be trauma-free.

That probably had something to do with the fact that it was indeed, Sunday, and that the storm may have set an unofficial record for a pre-event drumbeat.

Computers had been on to something big happening for about a week, at one point suggesting historic amounts of snow for Philly. The anticipation and anxiety evidently were major boons to local supermarkets — where carb shortages and human stampedes were reported — and hardware stores.