6:00 AM | **Significant winter storm arrives this evening...another storm produces accumulating snow Sunday night into Monday**
Paul Dorian
6-Day Forecast
Today
Sun fades behind increasing clouds, cold, highs in the upper 30’s
Tonight
Cloudy, cold, snow arrives later this evening (9 or 10pm), lows in the upper 20’s
Saturday
Snow changes to freezing rain and sleet and perhaps eventually to plain rain; especially, from Philly south and east, cold, total snow and ice accumulations in the 3-6 inch range are likely from Philly north and west, upper 30’s
Saturday Night
Snow ending early, cold, mid 20’s
Sunday
Partly sunny, cold, mid-to-upper 30’s; snow develops at night
Monday
Mostly cloudy, periods of snow, cold, low 30’s
Tuesday
Mostly sunny, very cold, low 20’s
Wednesday
Partly sunny, very cold, mid-to-upper 20’s
Discussion
A significant coastal storm will move from the Virginia coastline early tomorrow to just east of the Massachusetts coastline by Saturday night and the result will be some accumulating snow and ice in the I-95 corridor. This storm will undergo rapid intensification between tonight and tomorrow night as it treks northeastward just off the east coast. One important limiting factor for significant snow from this storm in the Mid-Atlantic region is the fact that there will be no Arctic air mass in place ahead of the system and no strong high pressure system will be located to the north during the event acting as an all-important cold air source. Nonetheless, despite a likely mixture of precipitation during this event, snow and ice accumulations in the 3-6 inch range are likely in Philly and its northern and western suburbs given the expected storm track and rapid intensification which can "generate" its own cold air. The main thumping of snow from this storm will at its front end later tonight.
Another system will drop southeastward across the Great Lakes region late Sunday in much the same manner as some of the recent “clippers”. This system, however, has more potential that those recent ones as it will intensify in the Mid-Atlantic region on Monday, tap into some Atlantic Ocean moisture, and will have a cold air mass in place as it arrives. As a result, snow is likely to be the dominate precipitation type with this system on Sunday night and Monday and several inches of snow accumulation is possible from DC-to-Philly-to-NYC. There is the strong likelihood that the Monday morning commute will be significantly disrupted by this early week snow event. Brutal cold air follows this second system and lows by Wednesday morning will likely reach the single digits.
Video
httpv://youtu.be/clS8roYhJ8k