7:00 AM | The amazing chill has arrived; temperatures way below normal for this time of year, but modify back to normal levels by the weekend

[Widespread record or near record cold; map courtesy coolwx.com]

6-Day Forecast

Today

Mostly sunny, breezy and very chilly for this time of year, highs confined to the upper 40’s (normal high is now 63 degrees at PHL)

Tonight

Mostly clear and cold, patchy frost towards morning, lows by morning in the upper 20’s

Thursday

Patchy frost early; otherwise, mostly sunny and chilly, low-to-mid 50’s

Thursday Night

Becoming mostly cloudy, cold, low-to-mid 30's

Friday

Mostly cloudy, chilly, mid 50’s

Saturday

More clouds than sun, just a chance for a shower, cool, upper 50’s

Sunday

Partly sunny, breezy, cool, upper 50’s

Monday

Increasing clouds, milder, chance for showers at night, low 60's

Discussion

A touch of sleet and snow indeed reached portions of the big cities last night along the I-95 corridor from DC-to-Philly-to-New York City. This puts an exclamation point on what was already a long and cold winter season with many Mid-Atlantic locations receiving the first snowfall back in early November and now the last snowfall (hopefully) in mid-April. The cold this morning is very unusual as well for this time of year with apparent record lows in the following Mid-Atlantic locations (and this is just a small sampling): Lancaster, PA (28 degrees), Harrisburg, PA (30 degrees), Allentown, PA (27 degrees), JFK Airport in NYC (32 degrees), Andrews AFB in DC metro region (32 degrees) and Scranton, PA (23 degrees).

It’ll stay on the chilly side today with those well below normal temperatures despite plenty of sunshine. Another cold night is on the way and patchy frost is quite likely in the northern and western suburbs towards morning. Temperatures will modify by the weekend back to near seasonal levels for this time of year.

Video

httpv://youtu.be/4chXynC6QuU