Philly readies for the first substantial snow of the season, with up to 4 inches expected on Monday

Up to 4 inches of snow is expected to fall on the Philadelphia area Monday, creating slippery road conditions throughout the day and night in what will likely be the first significant storm of the winter season, though nothing close to its debut Sunday in the Midwest.

While forecasted amounts from the National Weather Service for the region were down from earlier predictions of up to half a foot, people were still preparing for the worst and stocking up on shovels, ice melt, and jugs of salt.

And the expected storm was enough to prompt the City of Philadelphia and school district officials to close all government offices and schools Monday.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia said its high school buildings will be closed, though those schools will use so-called Flexible Instruction Days, with learning completed at home. Parochial elementary schools will be closed, the archdiocese said. The Upper Darby School District, meanwhile, said it would have a virtual school day. They were just part of a list of school closures that grew well into Sunday night.

And Gov. Phil Murphy has declared a state of emergency for seven South Jersey counties: Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, and Salem.

Amid a historically light season for snow in the region — with just 0.3 inch to date reported by government observers at Philadelphia International Airport — some Philadelphians were looking forward to the wintry weather.

“They’re kind of excited to see it, because we haven’t really had real snow in quite a while,” Yori Candidi, a cashier at Fairmount Hardware, said Sunday. The store’s five-gallon buckets of calcium chloride and 50-pound bags of regular rock salt were flying off the shelves, leaving mostly smaller bags for those running errands later in the day.

“Everyone’s buying mostly bulk, too, to prepare in case, because we don’t know how bad it’s gonna end up being,” Candidi said.

Whatever comes overnight in Philly is likely to pale in comparison to the snow, sleet, and freezing rain that hit the Midwest over the weekend, resulting in hundreds of canceled flights in Kansas City and St. Louis.

» READ MORE: Snow is expected for Philly’s Monday morning commute, followed by a prolonged cold spell

Snow will spread over the region late Sunday night and intensify through Monday morning before gradually tapering off in the afternoon and evening, according to the National Weather Service, which issued its first winter weather advisory of the year for Philadelphia.

The storm is expected to bring more snow to the south of Philly and less snow in areas north of the city, said Zack Cooper, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Mount Holly. Southern areas like Camden could get up to 6 inches of snow while areas north of Philly could get just 2 to 3 inches, he said.

“The gradient is pretty much right through the Philadelphia metro [area], so that’s kind of where the greatest uncertainty lies,” Cooper said. " ... As you go, you know, let’s say north from Camden, you may run into lower totals fairly quickly.”

As the storm gets closer, “the forecast will continue to be refined” and “subtle shifts are still possible,” Cooper said. Those shifts can have a big difference for the amount of snow in the area.

Temperatures are expected to plunge on Tuesday and stay below freezing through at least Friday, experts said.

Then in the following days, according to data from the Climate Prediction Center, there’s a pretty good chance that temperatures across the area will remain below normal, and precipitation is also expected to be below normal, he said.

Motorists can check PennDot’s website for updates on vehicle restrictions on the Pennsylvania Turnpike and other roadways during the storm. They can also check road conditions at www.511PA.com.