Light snow and freezing temps coming to Philly

Expect cold weather and an inch or two of snow Tuesday.

The National Weather Service has a winter weather advisory in effect for all of Philadelphia from 8 a.m. Tuesday to 4 p.m., said meteorologist Valeria Meola, due to cold weather moving east from the Ohio Valley and a projected snowfall of one to two inches.

“That’s going to bring snow,” Meola said. “It looks like it may impact the morning commute, last to midday and should taper off around mid-afternoon.”

Rina Cutler, deputy mayor for transportation and utilities, said preparing for cold weather is on her “top five” list and the city’s plans are already in place for responding to cold weather.

“We have our snow plan in place in August,” Cutler said. “As far as the dusting we’ll get tomorrow, we don’t think it will be serious other than it will come at the tail end of the morning rush.”

SEPTA is also preparing for the icy blast.

“This is going to be the first brutal cold stretch of the winter for us,” said SEPTA spokeswoman Jerri Williams. “We don’t feel this snow… will affect any of our operations, but it’s going to be cold.”

Once temperatures go below 25 degrees, SEPTA will issue speed restrictions to regional rail trains to travel at 50 miles per hour or less, Williams said. The 101 and 102 trolleys will travel at 30 miles per hour or lower. On the Market-Frankford Line, A and B trains will both stop at every station.

As Cutler doesn’t expect projected snowfall to raise to the level of an emergency, so no change in parking rules at the Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA) is expected.

“The PPA is fully prepared for any kind of snow emergency. The PPA’s always prepared,” said PPA executive director Vince Fenerty. “It’s a matter of working in cooperation with Mayor Nutter and his staff to implement any kind of snow emergency.”

While no further snowfall is projected for the week, temperatures will stay low — with a low of 10 degrees predicted for Wednesday night, and Thursday only getting up to a high of 20, according to Meola.