Winter Storm 2015: The Blizzard that Fizzled

By Kara Seymour

In the end, it wasn’t the blizzard forecasters had predicted. It wasn’t much of a storm at all.

The winter storm that was anticipated to dump more than a foot of snow on the region didn’t materialize and Eastern Pennsylvania was spared from what had been dubbed on social media as #Snowmageddon2015.

With snow still falling on the region as of Tuesday morning, snow totals in Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties were expected to be between 2 and 3 inches.

That was much less than the public believed was in store.

On Monday, forecasters predicted the snow event could paralyze the region, with more than a foot of accumulation possible. But by late Monday, when accumulation was sparse and the storm track had shifted further east than originally thought, forecasters began reducing their accumulation predictions.

A threat of 12 to 24 inches a day before dwindled overnight Tuesday to a likelihood of 2 to 4 inches of snow for much of the Philadelphia region.

Fewer than 100 customers in Delaware, Chester and Montgomery counties were without power Tuesday morning, according to the PECO’s outage map.

Snow is expected to continue falling through Tuesday morning. A Winter Weather Advisory remains in effect in Eastern Pennsylvania through noon Tuesday. Less than an inch of new snow is expected to fall Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.

Meteorologists took to Twitter to issue apologies and explanations.

“My deepest apologies to many key decision makers and so many members of the general public,” Gary Szatkowski of the National Weather Service in Mount Holly Tweeted early Tuesday. “You made a lot of tough decisions expecting us to get it right, and we didn’t. Once again, I’m sorry.”

Philly.com’s John Bolaris called it a failure on the part of local forecasters.

“From a forecast standpoint, it’s been a failure, or better yet, a bust,” he wrote. “The morning commute will be very slick and tricky in the locations that get the accumulating snow, along with a very cold strong and gusty wind. The last of the snow will be ending with just some leftover flurries — and some egg on the face of us meteorologists.”

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