The snow and ice are sticking around the Philly region after an unusual storm

What have become the glacial remnants of a picturesque and a meteorologically unusual snowfall that tufted the trees and bushes with a cottony whiteness are likely to stay around for a few more days.

In what has been quite a chilly December, with not a single day of above-normal temperatures, readings were due to tumble into the teens for the second consecutive morning on Tuesday and not make it out of freezing in the afternoon.

But if you’re getting tired of salting and chipping ice after those overnight freeze-ups, you’re about to get some help.

A warm-up is forecast to get underway Wednesday, and come Thursday, which is slated to be the warmest day since before Thanksgiving, the atmosphere is expected to train its snow-removal guns on the region.

Forecasters see a surge of snow-erasing warmth and a significant — and badly needed — rainfall Thursday night that should restore the landscape to a condition more familiar to Philadelphians and ease precipitation deficits.

As for the prospects of a winter-wonderland encore, nothing is on the horizon in the near term, said Nick Guzzo, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mount Holly.

Said Matt Benz, senior meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc, “For folks looking for more snow, this might have been it.”

At least for now and perhaps until after Christmas, or later. But, “Winter’s not done yet,” Benz said.

Temperatures could go as high as 55 degrees Thursday, Benz said. Then after a cold front passes through, temperatures will fall during the day Friday.

This won’t be an Arctic front like the one that gave Philly its coldest day of the season on Monday, with a high of 28. However, the forecasts call for readings to be no higher than the 30s on Saturday, and mid-40s on Sunday, which is close to the longer-term normal high, followed by several degrees chillier on Monday.

In its updated extended outlooks on Monday, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center had just about the entire country with above-normal temperatures through Dec. 29, with a notable exception — the Northeast, including Philadelphia.

Predicted upper-air conditions in the Arctic and the North Atlantic would argue against above-normal temperatures around here during the period, climate center forecaster Thomas Collow said.

The center wisely eschews the snow-forecasting business.

Regardless of what happens the rest of the way, the winter of 2025-26 will be snowier than at least seven others in the period of snow records that date to the winter of 1884-85.

The 4.2 inches measured officially at Philadelphia International Airport Sunday is a half-inch above the long-term average for the season to date.

» READ MORE: How much snow fell near you, mapped

Granted almost any substantial snowfall would seem exceptional these days around here, but this one truly was, said the weather service’s Zach Cooper, a meteorologist in the Mount Holly office.

Most of Philly’s significant snows are the result of coastal storms that mine moist air from the ocean.

That wasn’t the case Sunday.

”In some ways it was a bit of a unique situation for us, especially to get the amounts that we did," he said.

The snow was generated by a weak “clipper system,” a storm that dives out of southwestern Canada and usually has minor impacts around here, and a disturbance in the upper atmosphere.

Totals generally ranged from 4 to 8 inches across the region. Totals were less around the city in part because temperatures took their good, old time dropping below freezing.

Marginal temperatures also were a factor in the spread of accumulations. They added some extra weight and heft to the flakes that glommed on the branches and what remains of the foliage with tenacity.

While the show will have a limited run, the region learned anew that snow and ice may be a pain, but nothing decorates like nature.