7:00 AM | The aftermath of the massive ice storm features cold, dry weather; weekend update
Paul Dorian
6-Day Forecast
Today
Mostly sunny, cold, highs in the upper 20’s
Tonight
Mostly cloudy, very cold, lows not far from 10 degrees
Friday
Mostly sunny, cold, near 30
Friday Night
Partly cloudy, very cold, middle teens
Saturday
Mostly cloudy, cold, chance for a little snow, near 30
Sunday
Mostly cloudy, cold, a period of snow with light-to-moderate accumulations likely, low 30’s
Monday
Mostly sunny, cold, upper 20’s
Tuesday
Partly sunny, very cold, mid 20’s
Discussion
The winter of 2013-2014 has featured bitter cold air not seen around here in many years, heavy snowfall on numerous occasions, and now has a massive ice storm under its belt. The number of power outages associated with this ice storm rose to ~650,000 which is the highest level ever for PECO during any winter storm and second only to Hurricane Sandy which had ~850,000 outages throughout the Philly metro region. The previous high number of outages for a winter storm occurred in January 1994 during the last great ice storm in this area. The northern and western suburbs of Philly ended up in the “bullseye” snowfall area on Monday and then were at “ground zero” for the massive ice storm early yesterday.
Dry and cold weather will dominate the scene through tomorrow and the sunshine will certainly help out with some melting of ice/snow despite temperatures holding below freezing. The weekend situation features a northern wave of low pressure and a southern wave of low pressure and if these two were to phase together at the right time then a strong coastal storm could be the result. However, it currently appears that they will not phase together and, instead of one big storm, there will be two separate and weaker systems. The southern energy could produce a little snow around here later Saturday and then the stronger, northern piece of energy is likely to cause a period of snow on Sunday with light-to-moderate accumulations possible.
Video
httpv://youtu.be/KV8Fz_NYhUI