7:00 AM | ***Powerful winds later tonight into early Friday with the arrival and passage of a strong cold frontal system***

6-Day forecast for the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania metro region

Today

Becoming mainly cloudy, windy and noticeably milder, chance of late afternoon showers, highs in the low-to-mid 60’s; S-SW winds increasing to 15-25 mph; gusts to 35 mph

Tonight

Mainly cloudy, mild, occasional showers and the rain can be briefly heavy, maybe a strong thunderstorm, becoming very windy late with the potential of gusts of 50+ mph towards morning, lows not far from 50 degrees

Friday

Very windy early with gusts to 50+ mph possible, clouds early with lingering showers and maybe a thunderstorm, increasing amounts of sunshine at mid-day and for the afternoon, temperatures to drop during the day following the early morning highs

Friday Night             

Mainly clear, quite cold, winds die down, late night lows in the low-to-mid 20’s

Saturday

Partly sunny, becoming very windy with gusts past 40 mph later in the day, cold, cannot rule out a snow shower or two, low-to-mid 40’s

Sunday

Mainly sunny, cold, lower 40’s

Monday

Mainly sunny, milder, mid 50’s

Tuesday

Mainly cloudy, mild, chance of showers, mid-to-upper 50’s

Discussion              

Temperatures will surge today ahead of a strong cold frontal system and showers will become numerous later this evening. Some of the rain later tonight can fall briefly on the heavy side and there can be a strong thunderstorm or two mixed into the picture. Of more concern, however, is the likelihood for powerful winds later tonight into tomorrow morning and there can be potentially damaging wind gusts with scattered power outages certainly on the table. The time period of greatest concern will be in the hour or two immediately following the passage of the surface cold front associated with an expected surge in pressure and a shift in wind direction. The frontal passage is most likely going to take place somewhere between about 4 AM and 9 AM. Moderately chilly air will follow the frontal passage and then a reinforcing shot of cold arrives on Saturday supported by a strong wave aloft that can result in some snow shower activity across the northeastern states and more very windy conditions.

Meteorologist Paul Dorian
Arcfield Weather