WINTER WIPEOUT

Average 7 inches of snow, capped with ice, but some areas got hit with more

Like her namesake, it turns out Stella was a bit fickle as Nor’easter go.

At times a threatening to be a blizzard with forecasts as high as 18 inches, in some places Stella dropped barely 3 or 4 inches of snow, although the area average seems to float somewhere between 7 and 8 inches. Some areas of Berks County reported a foot of snow.

Sometimes snow, sometimes rain, sleet and even “ice pellets,” Stella brought the full quiver of winter tricks to what many hope will be the last storm of an otherwise wimpy winter.

“Hardly anything here in East Coventry,” Carolyn Urban Roberts reported on The Mercury’s Facebook page.

By contrast, Tuesday afternoon, Bridget Cain Mayberry reported “10 inches in West Pottsgrove with an icy top layer. It continues to snow intermittently.”

At about the same time, Suzanne Reisser reported “7 inches of snow covered by 2 inches of frozen precipitation now being covered by large snow flakes here in Warwick Township.”

Cheryl Benedict Leister posted a photo showing eight inches of snow in Bally; Doreen Mastroi-

anni showed 14 inches in Sinking Spring and Carl Childers reported 7.5 inches in Pottstown.

Fred N. Brown, a teacher and principal who retired from Pottstown Schools after 22 years, helpfully posted “No snow but a sandstorm here in Dubai, stings like the dickens!”

For those of you wondering, Brown is now a consultant and was there on a business trip.

But while Stella may not have lived up to her press, that press did convince most people to stay off the roads, which was helpful for police and plow trucks alike.

“It’s been surprisingly quiet,” said Pottstown Police Captain Robert Thomas. “We’ve had almost no incidents this morning.”

Lower Pottsgrove Police said they had a similar Tuesday morning with many people heeding the warnings put out over the past few days. They reported no incidents as of 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.

One incident, however, was reported by Spring City Police involving a SEPTA bus that got stuck along Main and New streets.

Police said on their Facebook page that the bus got stuck as it was headed up the street. Police said no other cars had been parked along the snow emergency route, which could have made matters much worse.

SEPTA suspended bus lines 131 from Audubon to Norristown; 139 from Limerick to King of Prussia; 92 from Exton to King of Prussia; and Route 93 from Pottstown to Norristown.

Pottstown Area Rapid Transit joined other area transit systems in avoiding the roads by suspending all services because of conditions.

PennDOT maintained 45 mile per hour speed limits on most interstates into Tuesday evening, with the exception of I-95, I-476 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike east of Carlisle.

Similarly, nearly all local school districts called a snow day and the weather forecast makes another, or at least a morning delay, likely for Wednesday. Both Pottstown and Pottsgrove school districts did so just

“The accumulations they called for were not there, but ice, freezing rain and hail were heavy at times.” Brad Rudolph, PennDOT spokesman “We were very pleased whatever was supposed to be didn’t occur. It allowed our guys to stay up with and move what did come down.”

Jean Krack, Phoenixville Borough Manager

before press time.

Otherwise, Stella was a fairly moderate winter storm.

Six inches of heavy snow fell across Phoenixville Borough — far shorter than the close to 2 feet that was forecast Monday — and like many officials, Borough Manager Jean Krack said he was thankful the borough seemed to have dodged a larger bullet.

“We were very pleased whatever was supposed to be didn’t occur,” said Krack. “It allowed our guys to stay up with and move what did come down.”

The difficult part of moving the snow was its weight, considering some of it had turned to sleet. Crews plowed until mid Tuesday morning then were told to stop until the sleet changed back into snow, he said.

“It sure was heavy,” he said.

Krack anticipated the borough would be cleared by the late Tuesday afternoon. He was waiting for Mayor Michael Speck to give the order to end the snow emergency at 8 p.m. Tuesday instead of the 2 p.m. Wednesday originally declared. Tuesday night’s borough council meeting was still rescheduled to Wednesday night at 7 p.m.

Pottstown had a similar experience.

“It wasn’t too bad,” said Pottstown Public Works Director Doug Yerger.

“We started about 1:30 a.m. and we had all six dump trucks, six pick-up trucks and plenty of salt,” he said.

That’s due in part to the borough’s new municipal garage, which replaced a building that is literally falling down at Beech and Grant streets. The new garage also has salt storage capacity for 900 tons, versus only 200 tons at the old facility.

“We use about 100 tons per storm, during and after,” said Yerger.

PennDOT spokesman Brad Rudolph had a similar report.

“We did surprisingly well,” said Rudolph, who said the heaviest snow totals were in the areas north and west of Philadelphia “and in the Lehigh Valley.”

“People really stayed off the roads, and that gave us room to work,” he said.

All total, the state had 450 trucks on the road in this six-county region, only 175 of which are actually owned and operated by PennDOT, the rest are private contractors.

“The accumulations they called for were not there, but ice, freezing rain and hail were heavy at times, and we will probably have a fair amount of re-freezing,” said Rudolph.

That seems likely given the forecast.

Accuweather warned Tuesday afternoon that “travel delays and difficulties will linger in the wake of the major nor’easter as cold air, gusty winds and a freeze-up plunge across the eastern U.S.”

The National Weather Service is calling for a 40 percent chance of scattered snow showers, mainly after 2 p.m. Wednesday, with areas

of blowing snow and a high of only 27 degrees and wind gusts as high as 30 miles per hour. Temperatures will drop to about 18 degrees and night.

Thursday will be windy with a high near 34 and temperatures will not reach 40 until Friday, according to the forecast.

For those who had to shovel the snow by hand, the later they waited, the heavier it got.

“It wasn’t too bad at first,” said Nick Mangiaracina

, who was out with a crew from Triton Landscaping in Douglassville clearing the parking lot at The Brick House in downtown Pottstown.

“But it got wet and icy and it sure is heavy now,” he said. “We’ll be feeling it tonight when we get home,” he said, unconsciously rubbing his lower back.

TOM KELLY III — FOR DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA A man shovels out a car in the 400 block of Chestnut St. in Pottstown during Tuesday’s snowstorm.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SPRING CITY POLICE DEPT. A Route 139 SEPTA bus spun out in the snow and ice near the intersection of Main and New streets in Spring City about 10:30 a.m. during Tuesday’s snowstorm.

EVAN BRANDT — DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA Leighton Dobson, foreground, and Lorna McIntosh, undertake the slow work of digging their cars out of the snow on King Street in Pottstown Tuesday.

EVAN BRANDT — DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA Ben Moyer clears parking spaces in front of his two businesses on High Street Tuesday. “We’re open for business,” he said.

TOM KELLY III — FOR DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA Three guys watch as Brooke Kissinger shovels out her car on High Street near Price Street in Pottstown during Tuesday’s snow storm. In defense of the guys, Brooke says she likes to shovel snow and besides the guys were out earlier shoveling and they...

GENE WALSH — DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA A woman makes her way along DeKalb Street in Norristown as snow and sleet blankets the county Tuesday.

EVAN BRANDT — DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA A contractor uses a small Bobcat to clear the handicapped parking places at Pottstown Borough Hall, which was open for business during Tuesday’s snowstorm.

TOM KELLY III — FOR DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA As reflected in a sideview mirror, a snowplow passes a man snow blowing his sidewalk in the 1000 block of East High Street in Pottstown during Tuesday’s snow storm.

TOM KELLY III — FOR DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA Officials said most drivers stayed off the roads, which made plowing easier. Here, Route 422 in North Coventry remained partially snow covered without much traffic in the middle of the afternoon Tuesday.