Winter storm puts Philadelphians on thin ice

An inch of ice is worse than 12 inches of snow. That's what KYW-TV weatherman David Rogers said about this weekend's ice storm that left thousands of Philadelphia residents without power and without transportation. "At least you can see snow and judge yourself," Rogers said Friday. "Ice can be deceiving." The storm – which also left the city under a beautiful glistening blanket of ice – closed Philadelphia public and parochial schools, prohibited mail delivery and severely restricted flights at Philadelphia International Airport. All University administrative offices were also closed Friday, but will return to a normal schedule today, according to the University's emergency information line, 898-MELT. David Jordan, crew chief of the Streets Office of City Hall, said he had seven salt truck crews working around the clock Friday to clear the streets. "The streets are pretty bad and will be bad," he said. "As soon as you salt, it will freeze back up." Jordan added that the storm was the worst that has hit the city in more than 20 years. Ed Whalen, manager of consumer affairs at the 30th Street Station post office, said that "no carriers went out [Friday] because it was too dangerous." He added that he did not remember the last time mail service was suspended due to weather conditions. Rogers said the storm was caused by cold air that was already present in the city, combined with a "civil war" of warm air to the south and cold air to the north. "The high pressure from Ontario won the battle," he said. "The warm front was 50 miles to our south and 50 miles made all the difference." Approximately 590,000 customers were originally impacted by the storm, according to Lisa Moorehead, a spokesperson for Peco Energy Co. As of last night about 50,000 customers were still without power, she added. About 270 Peco Energy crews worked on restoring power with about 185 crews from neighboring utility companies helping out. Moorehead said the outside crews came from as far north as Rochester, N.Y., and as far south as Virginia. "This is the worst storm in Peco Energy's history," she said. "We surpassed a storm in March of 1958 where 400,000 customers lost electricity." Without light and heat, many residents fled to nearby hotels for the night. Raj Singh, who works the front office at the Days Inn of Northeastern Philadelphia, said business increased at his hotel by 20% over the weekend. "[People] were most concerned about having a warm place to stay," he said. Travellers were also affected by the storm, as only 30 percent of the 1,200 daily flights to and from Philadelphia International Airport were fully operational Friday, according to airport spokesperson Mark Pesce. The other 70 percent were either delayed or cancelled, he added. Pesce said the number of fully operational flights increased to 50 percent Saturday, and by yesterday, the airport was "completely operational," with few delays and cancellations. Friday's problems, Pesce said, were caused by bad weather at other airports and difficulty getting to the airport for flight crews. Rogers said that from a meteorological point of view, the storm was confusing because most local forecasters had predicted rain for Friday, and not ice. "It had all forecasters scratching their heads," he said. Another winter ice storm may be brewing, according to the Accu-Weather forecast. Starting Wednesday, more ice and snow is predicted, along with more dropping temperatures.

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