Shovels Not Needed, But More Snow Falling
By Steve Strouss
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- You won't need the shovels this time around, but light snow is breaking out across parts of the region this morning.
Generally around an inch or less will accumulate in Philadelphia and areas north & west of the city. 1-2" is forecasted for Delaware and southern New Jersey where a Winter Weather Advisory remains in effect until 1pm today.
While these are meager amounts in comparison to other events this winter, the snow comes with bad timing because it is starting to impact the later half of the morning commute. Those traveling should be prepared for areas of reduced visibility & some slippery spots.
This system is a quick mover and snow will taper off around noon as skies begin to clear. Later today the sun will break out but it will turn blustery with gusts to 30 mph. Temperatures tonight will plummet into the teens as an Arctic air mass builds in. Despite sunshine on Thursday and Friday high temperatures will not climb above freezing either day (Normal high is 47 degrees) and wind chills will be near zero Friday morning.
There are signs that the cold air retreats a bit into the weekend but we already have our eyes on a much larger storm that could bring us very messy weather Sunday night into Monday. There is a lot of uncertainty with this next system but there appears to be a lot of moisture associated with the Low pressure area coming out of the Southern Plains which causes concern early next week. If the front stalls, taps into the Gulf and cold air lingers we will be dealing with a high impact storm for an extended period of time. Most of the models we analyze all show rain Sunday night which will change to accumulating snow on Monday. The last few model runs have trended colder so we will monitor this potentially large scale event and keep you informed.
One thing is for sure, I think most of us agree that we've seen enough snow this winter and we are more than ready for Spring to arrive. Here are some days to look forward to as we begin the Spring Countdown. Only 10 days remain until Eastern Standard Time ends. Only 20 days remain until the Vernal Equinox, the official start of Spring. Only 37 days remain until the average high in Philadelphia reaches 60 degrees and only 39 days remain until the Phillies home opener on April 7th.
Steven
