7:00 AM | ***Soaking rain event from today into tonight...rain can mix with or change to snow by early tomorrow before the precipitation event winds down***
Paul Dorian
6-Day forecast for the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania metro region
Today
Periods of rain and some of the rain will become heavy at times, a thunderstorm is possible, chilly, highs near 50 degrees; E winds 5-10 mph
Tonight
Periods of rain and some of the rain can be heavy at times, a thunderstorm is possible, becoming windy and turning noticeably colder late, some snow can mix in by daybreak in the northern and western suburbs, lows in the low-to-mid 30’s
Friday
Windy and cold with rain possibly mixing with or changing to snow in some areas before the precipitation event winds down, lower 40’s for afternoon highs
Friday Night
Becoming mainly clear, breezy, cold, mid 20’s for late night lows
Saturday
Mainly sunny, breezy, cold, upper 40’s
Sunday
Mainly sunny, milder, upper 50’s
Monday
Partly sunny, mild, chance of showers, upper 50's
Tuesday
Mainly sunny, mild, lower 60’s
Discussion
The month of March has been unusually dry in the Mid-Atlantic region, but a soaking rain event will begin this morning as strong low pressure pushes into the Ohio Valley. This same storm system contributed to the first significant severe weather outbreak of the season on Wednesday and severe weather will be a threat today from Georgia to Virginia. The strong low pressure system will shift in its heretofore northeastward track and take a turn to the south and east later in the day as it runs into an impressive upper-level blocking pattern across southern Canada. At the same time, strong high pressure will build into southeastern Canada today and it will be anchoring quite a cold air mass for this time of year. As the storm pushes to the south and east tonight, the cold air mass will follow suit and rain will change to snow in a northwest-to-southeast fashion. By early tomorrow, low pressure will be situated off the Mid-Atlantic coastline and a mixing with or a changeover to snow is possible all the way down into the DC-to-Philly-to-NYC corridor. After this storm system pushes away later tomorrow, cold and dry air will dominate the scene right through the first half of the upcoming weekend, but it'll turn milder on Sunday.
Meteorologist Paul Dorian
Perspecta, Inc.
perspectaweather.com