7:00 AM | March ends on a cold note and April gets off to a colder-than-normal start

[March temperature departures from normal; courtesy NOAA]

6-Day Philly Forecast

Today

Mainly sunny, breezy, cold, highs not far from 50 degrees

Tonight

Mostly clear, cold, lows in the low-to-mid 30’s

Thursday

Mainly sunny, becoming windy and much milder, low 60’s

Thursday Night

Mostly cloudy, mild, chance for showers late, low 50's

Friday

Mostly cloudy, quite breezy and mild with periods of rain and maybe a thunderstorm, mid-to-upper 60’s

Saturday

Lingering rain possible early in the morning; otherwise, partly sunny skies, breezy and colder, low 50’s

Sunday

Mostly sunny, cool for this time of year, low-to-mid 50’s

Monday

Partly sunny, milder, upper 50’s

Discussion

As the month of March came to a close, there was snow late yesterday in the Lehigh Valley and northeastern part of PA with a few inches reported in the Poconos. Also, there were reports of thunder and lightning in Bucks County last night as colder air was pushing into the region along with some ice pellets. March turned out to be much colder-than-normal throughout the Northeast US (map). Today will turn out to be a drier day compared to the first two days of the work week, but it’ll be quite breezy and cold for the first day of April. Temperatures are likely to hold primarily in the 40’s this afternoon, but much milder air will advance northward into our region on Thursday. It’ll stay quite mild on Friday; however, periods of rain are likely to develop as the next cold front approaches from the northwest. Lingering rain is possible into Saturday morning following the cold frontal passage and it’ll stay below-normal temperature-wise through the upcoming Easter weekend.