6:00 AM | ***Powerful storm over the ocean likely to generate some accumulating snow around here with even more towards the coast...extreme cold to follow with dangerous sub-zero wind chills***
Paul Dorian
6-Day Philadelphia Forecast
Today
Sunshine will give way to increasing high clouds, quite cold, but not as harsh as recent days, highs in the mid-to-upper 20’s
Tonight
Becoming mostly cloudy, very cold, chance for snow late, lows near 15 degrees
Thursday
Mainly cloudy and continued quite cold with snow likely early, accumulations of 1-3 inches possible, becoming windy, low-to-mid 20’s for afternoon highs
Thursday Night
Becoming partly cloudy, bitter cold, windy with dangerous wind chills, lows in the low-to-mid single digits with sub-zero wind chills
Friday
Brutal cold despite some sunshine, windy with dangerous sub-zero wind chills, low-to-mid teens for highs
Saturday
Continued brutal cold with some sunshine, winds will slacken off, but dangerous wind chills are still possible, middle teens for highs
Sunday
Mainly sunny, still very cold, but not quite as piercing, mid 20’s
Monday
Mainly cloudy, not as cold, chance for rain, sleet and/or snow, mid-to-upper 30’s
Discussion
The bitter cold weather pattern of the past couple of weeks for the eastern two-thirds of the nation will not ease up at all this week and an added feature will be a powerful storm that develops over the western Atlantic Ocean during the next 24-36 hours. This storm is likely to generate ice and accumulating snow over the next couple of days all the way from Florida to New England and accumulating snow can fall in this region on the order of 1-3 inches with higher amounts to the east of Route 95. Any shift westward in the storm track could result in significantly more snowfall around here – still within the realm of possibility.
Perhaps even more important than any snow that falls from this upcoming storm will be the extreme cold that follows throughout the eastern US in the Thursday night-to-Saturday time period. Wind chills will reach dangerous sub-zero levels as winds gust to 50 mph or so in this late week time period and power outages may become a real concern; especially, across coastal sections. A relaxation in temperatures is likely to arrive in the Mid-Atlantic region by early next week, but there may be a wintry mix of rain, sleet and/or snow to accompany this temporary “warm up”.
Meteorologist Paul Dorian
Vencore, Inc.
vencoreweather.com