6:00 AM | ****Arctic blast punishes the eastern US...accumulating snow to follow on Saturday afternoon****

[Record or near record lows this morning throughout the eastern US; map courtesy "coolwx.com"]

6-Day Philly Forecast

Today

The coldest day of the year so far…brutally cold with mostly sunny skies, temperatures struggle to reach the lower teens after near zero morning lows, winds remain quite brisk into the early afternoon hours producing painfully cold sub-zero wind chills, but then the winds will diminish late in the day

Tonight

Partly cloudy, calm, bitter cold with low temperatures in the low-to-mid single digits

Saturday

Becoming cloudy, accumulating snow likely to develop during the mid-day or early afternoon hours, temperatures moderate to the upper 20's by later in the day after a very cold start

Saturday Night

Snow mixes with sleet and/or freezing rain, but not before total accumulations reach 2-5 inches, temperatures hold nearly steady in the upper 20's for much of the night

Sunday

Mixed precipitation can change to plain rain before ending later in the morning, milder, highs near 40 degrees

Monday

Partly sunny, much colder again, windy, low 20's

Tuesday

Partly sunny, quite cold, near 20 degrees

Wednesday

Mostly cloudy, breezy, cold, chance for snow early, near 30 degrees

Discussion

Arctic air is punishing the eastern US this morning with many records broken and freezing temperatures all the way down to southern Florida - welcome to spring training. Some Mid-Atlantic records this morning include State College, PA at -8 degrees, 5 degrees at Reagan National Airport in DC which broke a long-standing record held there since 1896, BWI Airport in Baltimore, MD at 1 degree above zero, Wilmington, DE and Trenton, NJ broke records and the list goes on and on. Today will be the coldest day of the winter so far as temperatures reluctantly rise into the lower teens from near zero starting points. Winds will continue to be quite brisk into the early afternoon with painfully cold sub-zero wind chills, but then the winds should diminish as we heads towards the evening. The weekend brings a complicated precipitation forecast to the region and it looks like it will include accumulating snow on the order of 2-5 inches with the higher amounts in that range to the north and west and the lower amounts to the south and east.

A large area of moisture is headed our way for Saturday and Saturday night and it should arrive at a time in which Arctic air is still in place. Eventually, advancing warmer air will likely cause a changeover of the snow to sleet and/or freezing rain and perhaps even ultimately to plain rain. However, before the snow mixes with or changes to sleet and/or freezing rain, there are likely to be snow accumulations on the order of 2-5 inches. By early Saturday night there is likely to be a period of icing with sleet and/or freezing rain before any possible changeover to plain rain ever takes place. The precipitation winds down Sunday morning and then another blast of cold Arctic air will arrive by early next work week. More accumulating snow threatens the Mid-Atlantic region by the middle of next week. Overall, this punishing weather pattern shows no signs of letting up its tight grip on the eastern US.

Video

httpv://youtu.be/Fet5z_S6Z0U