Philly snow cleanup: What to know about plowing, parking, schools, and more

As Mayor Cherelle L. Parker put it earlier this week, we’re not out of the woods yet.

The storm that hit Philadelphia Sunday brought with it 9.3 inches of snow for the city proper — the most we’ve seen at one time in a decade. And while that really sells the wintery vibe — especially when combined with the bitter cold we’re experiencing — cleanup efforts are ongoing.

Highways and public transportation in the region are largely restored, but some city streets remain packed with snow and ice. City school buildings Wednesday were in their third day of snow-related closures. And we might even be looking at more snow to come.

Here is what you need to know:

PennDot’s vehicle and speed restrictions have been lifted on all interstates and major highways across the Philadelphia region, as were those on state roads in New Jersey. But street plowing in the city remains a work in progress.

Residents from around the city told The Inquirer many side streets and some secondary streets remained coated in several inches of snow and ice, making traveling on them difficult or impossible. Data from PlowPHL, a service that tracks plow movement, indicated Tuesday that roughly a quarter of city streets had not received any snow treatment since the storm.

The Philadelphia Parking Authority reopened its offices Wednesday, and began on-street parking enforcement for safety violations including parking in bus zones and in front of fire hydrants. The 24-hour $5 emergency garage parking rate was also rescinded, with PPA garages returning to their usual rates, the authority said.

SEPTA on Monday restored all of its subway, trolley, and suburban trolley services, and as of Wednesday was running Regional Rail lines on their normal weekday schedules. Bus service, SEPTA notes online, is largely operational, though several routes remain suspended due to road conditions.

Among the suspended buses Wednesday were routes 3, 5, 40, 41, and 115, according to the agency’s alerts page. The suspended routes, SEPTA indicated, would be restored “once it is safe to do so.”

PATCO, meanwhile, returned to its normal weekday schedule Tuesday.

Philadelphia International Airport experienced hundreds of flight cancellations and delays due to the storm, but remained open despite the inclement weather, Parker said at a news conference this week.

As of early Wednesday afternoon, the airport had experienced about 87 delays and 57 cancellations, according to flight data tracking website FlightAware. On Monday, the day after the storm, there were 326 delays and 290 cancelations, followed by 255 delays and 156 cancelations Tuesday, FlightAware indicated.

Philadelphia school buildings are slated to reopen Thursday after three straight days of being closed in the wake of the storm. A full snow day was declared Monday, followed by two days of virtual learning Tuesday and Wednesday.

Archdiocesan high schools and city parochial schools will also go back to in-person classes Thursday.

Students and staff who arrive late to class due to weather-related issued would not have their lateness counted against them, Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. said.

This week’s disruption to the usual school schedule had begun taking its toll on some parents. Outside the city, many suburban districts had already reopened by Wednesday.

Post-storm, the Philadelphia region faces frigid temperatures that are expected to remain well below freezing until at least Feb. 4. Highs were expected to top out around the teens, and lows consistently in the single digits — along with wind chills reaching down into the negatives.

And then, of course, there is the potential for more snow this weekend.

Forecasters said Wednesday that it remained unclear exactly what we should expect, but a major coastal storm is likely to appear during the weekend. Early computer models indicated that the system would remain far offshore enough to spare the Philadelphia area from major snowfall, but accumulation predictions remain in flux.