Storm Clears, Bitter Cold Tonight

The snow is finally gone. Now we're in for bitter cold.

The last remnants of the winter storm moved out of South Jersey and Delaware early Monday evening after dropping up to 7 inches in some areas.

Now that the snow is gone, brutal cold has taken its place. 

Monday night into early Tuesday morning, temperatures will be in the single digits in Philly and below 0 in parts of the Lehigh Valley. Those temperatures could break records in parts of the area.

After that, there will be a slow warmup. Temperatures will be in the upper 20's on Tuesday, upper 30's Wednesday and Thursday and 40 degrees on Friday. Those temperatures are still below the average of 47 degrees for this time of year. We should match those averages by the weekend however.

THE SNOW

In Philadelphia, the snow moved out around 10 a.m. Hurricane says areas to the north of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which runs through lower Montgomery and Bucks Counties and central Chester county, as well as Trenton, N.J. have been done with the storm since early Monday morning.

“The difference in conditions from South Jersey to the Pennsylvania suburbs is like we drove 1,000 miles,” Hurricane said. "In actuality, the change in conditions happened across 70 to 100 miles."

Despite temperatures hovering in the 20s or even lower, for some areas, there were concerns about freezing rain around Dover, Del., Hurricane said.

Asked how ice could fall, even with such low temperatures, Hurricane says it has to do with warmer air aloft. When the precipitation falls and hits the ground, it freezes.

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Narrowing bands of snow limited snowfall amounts across the area. In Philadelphia, 3.4 inches of snow officially fell at Philadelphia International Airport. That puts the city at 62.9 inches of accumulation for this winter so far. Philly is still in third place this year as far as snowiest winters in its recorded history, behind 65.5 inches of snow in 1995-96 and 78.7 inches in 2009-10.

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There was very little snow accumulation in the Lehigh Valley and Poconos. But on the other side of the region, in South Jersey and Delaware, more than six inches of snow are expected to pile up.

In Ventnor, N.J., 7 inches of snow was measured on the ground at 12:30 p.m. with snow still falling.

Wilmington, Del. set a snowfall record before the storm was over. Hurricane said this winter is now the 2nd snowiest winter ever recorded in that city -- at 49.9 inches of snow this winter as of 7 a.m. Records date back to 1894 for Wilmington, Hurricane says. Snow continues to fall so that number is expected to rise.

STATES OF EMERGENCIES AND CLOSURES

States of Emergency were declared in Philadelphia as well as the entire states of New Jersey and Delaware. Public and Catholic schools in Philadelphia have closed for the day.

Philadelphia's snow emergency expired at 11 a.m. Del. Gov. Jack Markell lifted the emergency for New Castle County, Del. at 2 p.m. It was lifted for Kent County at 6 p.m. and will be lifted for Sussex County at 8 p.m.

Speed restrictions of 45 mph were also put into place on many highways including I-76, I-95 and U.S. Route 1. Restrictions on the Pennsylvania Turnpike were lifted at 10:30 a.m. Along I-76 and Route 1, speed limits were restored at noon. The lower limits remained on I-95.

Amtrak, NJ Transit and SEPTA also warned riders to expect delays and possible route changes. At Philadelphia International Airport, the majority of flights into and out of the airport this morning have been canceled, according to officials. Normal operations are expected to resume this afternoon.

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NBC10.com and the NBC10 First Alert Weather Team will continue to update you with the latest information as it becomes available. Continue to check back here and on NBC10 News.