5:30 AM | *****Major winter storm hits from later Saturday night into Monday...significant snowfall and some icing...bitter cold to follow*****
Paul Dorian
6-Day forecast for the Philadelphia, PA metro region
Today
Partly sunny, colder, becoming quite breezy, highs in the middle 30’s; W-NW winds increasing to 10-20 mph; gusts to 30 mph
Tonight
Partly cloudy, windy, bitter cold, lows in the middle single digits
Saturday
Increasing clouds, very cold, breezy, upper teens for afternoon highs
Saturday Night
Mainly cloudy, bitter cold, snow develops around midnight and becomes heavy at times late, near 10 degrees for late night lows
Sunday
Mainly cloudy, very cold, breezy, periods of snow, heavy at times, sleet is likely to mix in at times during the afternoon hours…perhaps some freezing rain, significant snow accumulations of 8-14 inches before the mixing, isolated higher amounts are possible in the far northern and western suburbs where icing is minimal or never develops at all, lower 20’s
Monday
Mainly cloudy, breezy, very cold, some snow likely during the early morning hours, middle 20’s; brutally cold at night
Tuesday
Mainly sunny, very cold, upper teens; brutally cold at night
Wednesday
Partly sunny, bitter cold, lower 20’s
Discussion
A major winter storm will affect the Mid-Atlantic region this weekend with significant snowfall and some icing is likely to take place as well. The stage will be set as the latest in a series of Arctic blasts swallows up much of the eastern two-thirds of the nation by later tonight. Despite the likelihood of some icing, this should turn out to be one of the biggest snowstorms in many years for the DC-to-Philly-to-NYC corridor with estimates of 8-14 inches in most areas. The higher amounts in the snowfall accumulation range will be to the north and west (less icing) and the lower amounts will be to the south and east (more icing). Isolated higher amounts are possible in the far northern and western suburbs where icing is minimal or never develops at all.
In terms of the icing, sleet is likely to be the predominate form thankfully; however, there can be freezing rain in some areas which always raises the red flag for potential power outages. Snow should begin around midnight on Saturday night and precipitation can continue into Monday morning meaning there can be impacts on travel conditions to start the new work week. Brutally cold air will follow the weekend storm and there is a possibility for another storm to deal with next weekend. (Note- the last time Philly recorded a temperature below zero was in January 1994).
Meteorologist Paul Dorian
Arcfield Weather