Falling snow won’t hamper Santa here

Hopes - and fears - of white stuff this weekend have evaporated.

Forget the forecast of a couple of days ago, which said a wintry mix of rain, snow and sleet was possible Saturday night, with a chance rain or snow Sunday.

Odds are now zero that Santa will be bothered by any precipation in the Philadelphia area Saturday.

And Sunday is likely to start off dry as well.

Might be some afternoon rain. Maybe a few flakes, especially to the north and west of Philadelphia.

South Jersey might get a little rain. Or nothing.

So says meteorologist Valerie Meola of the National Weather Service office in Mount Holly.

"Overall, it's not looking like a real white scenario for our area," she said.

Not even Reading or Allentown are expecting snow.

To see a holiday-card landscape, you'll have to go farther north or west. Lancaster could see some snow Sunday; Scranton and State College, Pa., on Saturday as well.

White Christmases are not the norm for Philadelphia.

Only seven times since 1958 has Dec. 25 dawned in Philadelphia with at least an inch on the ground, according to the National Weather Service: 2009 (8 inches), 1998 (1 inch), 1966 (12 inches), 1963 (5 inches), 1961 (2 inches), 1960 (1 inch) and 1959 (1 inch).

An inch or more fell on Dec. 25 three times: 2002 (1.1 inches), 1969 (4.1 inches) and 1962 (1.5 inches).

Only in 1993 and 1976, with 0.2 inches each, did more than a trace fall.

To see charts for White Christmases in Philadelphia and Allentown, go to: www.erh.noaa.gov/phi/xmasclimate.html.

For your local forecast, go to http://go.philly.com/weather and enter a town name or zip code.