Anticipated snow fails to show up

Students looking forward to a white winter paradise will be disappointed today. And those hoping that professors will cancel classes and midterms will be even more upset. As of last night, updated forecasts by the National Weather Service called for no more than two inches of snow overnight. However, icing might be an issue, as today's temperatures are expected to hover around freezing. According to the NWS, today will be particularly windy, with gusts of up to 30 miles an hour. "There will be a winter weather advisory for the entire region," NWS forecaster Jim Poirier said. "There will be one or two inches by dawn and another inch [tomorrow]." Original forecasts had called for blizzard-like conditions with accumulations of up to two feet of snow. But while Philadelphia braced for a severe storm, the white stuff simply never materialized. "The computer models over-predicted the actual conditions," Poirier said. He attributed the decreasing severity to the storm bypassing the Philadelphia area and moving out to sea from the south. All of the accumulation will be recorded by tonight, "though after Tuesday night, there is still a chance of flurries," Poirier said. With no significant accumulation over the weekend, Penn did not officially call off classes yesterday. As of last night, an official decision on classes had not been made. However, some professors canceled classes on an individual basis. Several English, Psychology and Music classes were cancelled by professors living outside Philadelphia who were unable to make it into the city due to the wet roads. Even when classes were held, some students opted not to go. "It would have been nice if classes were canceled, but I wasn't really disappointed," College freshman Miranda Maney said, adding that she did not attend one class yesterday, since it was held near David Rittenhouse Laboratories on the eastern edge of campus. But some students did brave the elements and managed to attend all their classes. "I pretty much figured that we would have class," said Nursing sophomore Betsy White, who went to both her classes yesterday. Despite the uncertainty behind the weather, city officials say that they will remain prepared throughout the remainder of the week for any possible conditions. "We can't make sure what will happen tomorrow," Pennsylvania Department of Transportation District Six spokesperson Charles Metzger said. "We have to be prepared for whatever happens." PennDOT District Six includes the city and the surrounding counties. As of yesterday, there were over 60,000 tons of ice-melting salt on hand. During the height of yesterday's inclement weather, Philadelphia had 390 trucks out plowing and deicing, while most of the snow that fell overnight was cleared out by morning rush hour. "It was a little tricky today, because there was some icing in Delaware County and significant accumulation in Bucks County," Metzger said last night. The slow-clearing crews worked until 6 p.m. last night and resumed operations at 3 a.m. this morning. New Jersey declared a state of emergency yesterday and Acting Governor Donald DiFrancesco called in the National Guard. As a result, most public and private schools in New Jersey were closed yesterday. And the decision to close New York City public schools was made early yesterday morning due to uncertainties. Many flights in and out of the area's major airports were also cancelled or delayed, causing travel problems for commuters up and down the East Coast. The Associated Press contributed to this article.