7:00 AM | ***Quite a remarkable cold air outbreak arrives later tonight...powerful winds on Saturday could reach 50 mph...rain-to-snow in interior sections of the Mid-Atlantic/NE US***

6-Day forecast for the Philadelphia, PA metro region

Today

Mainly cloudy, breezy, quite cool, good chance for afternoon showers, highs in the mid-to-upper 50’s

Tonight

Mainly cloudy, becoming windy and turning colder, rain showers may change to snow showers in suburban locations to the north and west of Route I-95, lows in the low-to-mid 30’s

Saturday

Very windy and cold with partial sunshine, chance for a few rain and/or snow showers; primarily, during the late morning and mid-day hours, gusts to 50 mph are possible, mid-to-upper 40’s for afternoon highs

Saturday Night

Mainly clear, quite breezy, quite cold, lows in the low-to-mid 30’s

Sunday

A cold start to the day, but partly-to-mainly sunny skies will help to boost afternoon temperatures to near 60 degrees and the wind will be less noticeable when compared to Saturday

Monday

Partly sunny, cool, chance of showers, upper 50’s

Tuesday

Mainly sunny, cool, mid-to-upper 50’s

Wednesday

Mainly sunny, cool, near 60 degrees

Discussion

A remarkable cold air outbreak is coming to the region for Friday night and Saturday and it will be accompanied by a rain-changing-to-snow event in many interior sections of the Mid-Atlantic/Northeast US. The weather will become quite a bit more active later today as a strong cold front advances this way from the Upper Midwest and low pressure begins to develop over the Tennessee Valley. This low pressure system will push along the southeastward-advancing cold frontal boundary zone and rain is likely to return to the region during the afternoon and evening hours. As colder air wraps into the system tonight, the rain is likely to change to snow in a good part of the Mid-Atlantic/Northeast US; especially, across interior higher elevation locations of upstate PA, NY and New England where accumulations are possible. In fact, there can be a changeover from rain-to-snow showers later tonight all the way into the suburban locations just to the north and west of the Philly metro region. This low pressure system will intensify dramatically by the time it reaches the Gulf of Maine on and a deepening pressure gradient will result in powerful winds to go along with the unusual cold. Winds on Saturday can gust to 50 mph or so raising the chance for scattered power outages. Looking ahead, the overall weather pattern that has resulted in multiple cold air outbreaks from Canada into the central and eastern US during the past several weeks is likely to finally break down during the third week of May, but we’ll have to endure some pain before we get to those expected warmer-than-normal conditions.

Meteorologist Paul Dorian
Perspecta, Inc.
perspectaweather.com